Bonded
by Snapplelinz
Summary: An accidental mishap leaves Carly and Freddie connected to each other in more ways than they could've possibly anticipated. Concept and plot sequence inspired by Carl Rahl.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Helloo, fellow iCarly fans! Yes, I'm back again and I've written a new story. But if you want someone to blame, it's all Carl Rahl's fault ; ) He gave me a cool idea for a short Creddie story, which is what this is down below. So I hope you all like this and send me lots of reviews because they keep me flying high :D**

**Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly in any way whatsoever. If I did, the series would never end ;D  
**

* * *

"Sam, if I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, quit touching my equipment!" Freddie yelled angrily.

"Ooh, Carly, better look out. Fredturd's about to bust a cap in my ass any minute," Sam taunted airily.

"Knock it off, Sam." Carly quipped impatiently.

The iCarly trio had just finished rehearsal for the next upcoming episode that Wednesday afternoon. The general mood had been irritable no thanks to Sam and Freddie's usual bickering. But Carly, who usually took it in her stride, was feeling particularly petulant because of her two best friends' petty quarrels. It felt like Sam was going out of her way to purposely antagonise Freddie today, not that this was unusual behaviour for Sam. But Carly was especially annoyed since she had made a point of having a chat with Sam not too long ago and explicitly told her to lay off of Freddie.

"Maybe you don't care about what I do for the web-show or even care about me as a friend. But that equipment is really expensive, Sam, and I don't want you wrecking it!" Freddie fumed irately.

"Geez, let your tightey-whiteys breathe a little, Fredweird. Even with the 1% chance of your equipment breaking, you've got a bunch of over-eager nerds in AV Club just waiting with bated breath to fix it again." Sam replied with a dismissive wave of her hand as she exited the iCarly studio through the glass-panelled door.

"Those over-eager nerds just happen to be friends of mine, Sam." Freddie spat indignantly, following closely behind the blonde-haired teenage girl.

"Guys, can't you give it a rest?" Carly demanded wearily, feeling a sudden headache coming on.

The three of them had reached the stairway which led back down to the Shay's living room at this point, lingering a little on the wooden landing.

"Friends…lame excuses for human beings. What's the difference?" Sam questioned casually.

"Sam!" Carly exclaimed reproachfully.

"At least I have friends! If not for Carly, no one at school would even give you the time of day!" Freddie snapped callously.

Sam bristled up considerably at this particular insult.

"I'll gladly give you the time of day with two hits, Freddie: my fist hitting you and you hitting the floor." Sam shot back maliciously.

"Cut it out, Sam!" Carly warned, coming to stand between her two best friends.

Something about having to come to Freddie's defence made Carly even more irritable. It wasn't that she enjoyed Sam's put-downs any more than Sam did. But the irrationality of her sudden desire to protect Freddie was making Carly's head spin worse than ever.

Freddie acquiesced and stepped around Carly so that his back faced the stairs below him and Sam stood in front of him.

"You're lucky Carly's around," Sam gloated in a mirthful tone.

"I don't need Carly to fight my battles, Sam. And I certainly don't need to hit you to get my point across," Freddie responded in a dignified voice, straightening the collar on his golf shirt ever so slightly.

"Maybe not. But how do you feel about getting pushed down the stairs for old times' sake then?" Sam questioned with a malevolent grin.

Before Carly could stop her or reprimand her, Sam moved forward and pushed with all of her might against Freddie's chest, sending him careening backwards. Carly's eyes widened in horror as Freddie's arms flailed beside him in a hapless attempt to stop himself from falling.

Then it all happened in a space of a few stilted seconds.

One moment, Carly was behind Sam, watching as Freddie made his descent downstairs. The next moment, Carly felt herself reaching out blindly through space and time, the force of her movement sending her pelting forward into the unknown. She could feel the cold wind of the air conditioner in the apartment sweeping across her face as she tried desperately to balance herself while keeping Sam and Freddie in place too. The movement took all three of them by surprise and suddenly the three teenagers went crashing over the railing on the wooden stairs.

Carly was floating between her two best friends, her arm reaching out to grab Freddie around the waist in a protective manoeuvre as he flew directly towards Spencer's tall and green sculpture made out of sharp metal he had had scrounged up from the junkyard. Their bodies began twisting and turning in midair as they glided forward. Suddenly Sam was on Carly's left, and Carly's elbow angled out instinctively, knocking Sam off course, causing her back to hit the foot of the sculpture instead, but far away from the sharp bits of metal.

This left her and Freddie to careen off to the right. Freddie slammed into the back of the yellow leather sofa and slumped forward as Carly let go of him and rolled a few inches away, near the three wooden stairs, which led into the living room, the kitchen off to the left.

Then all three of them slipped into unconsciousness. Sam lay slumped against the statue, a bleeding gash on her forehead. Freddie was laying slumped half against the sofa and half against the floor, a crimson stain forming on the leather behind his head. Carly was the only one lying completely on the floor, a cut and some bruises forming against her cheek resting against the cold wood, her fingers just millimetres away from Freddie's on the ground.

All in all, the action of falling down the stairs had taken approximately three seconds.

But Carly's actions had somehow expanded the time to last close to a minute long.

* * *

**Author's Note: Ok, how ticked are you that the chapter is really this short? I didn't lie when I said this would be a short story. But just so we're clear, this isn't a oneshot, no no no no. There will be more chapters after this, so please let me know what you think of this initial chapter. Ok, now I gotta go take a bath. Pip pip, cheerio!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Hellooo, fellow iCarly fans! In light of certain grievances affected against us due to the facetiousness of both Dan Schneider and Nickelodeon in not airing new iCarly episodes on a regular basis, I can only hope that the amount of Creddie fans has not dwindled in the least, but increased in the interests of going from strength to strength. Too much of a far off hope? Hmm, interesting. I've had a pretty emotional week, so I haven't done as much writing as I would've normally hoped to have achieved. But I wrote this chapter in advance, which is good news for all of you ; ) Now without further ado...**

**Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly or Carl Rahl.  
**

* * *

Carly tried her best not to blink too much while the doctor examined her, the white light of his miniature torch blinding against her brown eye. It reminded her of another light she'd witnessed not too long before the accident, like something out of an obscure dream that she couldn't remember just yet. Then a distorted swirl of black clouded her senses, drowning out the light momentarily.

"Does the light hurt your eyes when I do this, Carly?" Dr. Bernstein asked in a benignly calm tone.

"No," Carly responded hoarsely, trying to steady her rapidly beating heart.

"That's good," Dr. Bernstein remarked succinctly.

He switched off the tiny flash light and placed it on a gleaming metal tray beside him next to a series of sharp and spindly metallic instruments. Then he focused the rest of his attention back on the pale and beautiful teenage girl, who looked positively shaken up by the ordeal she and her two best friends had undergone. She was sitting up on the hospital bed in the ER at Seattle Grace, which was a good sign to him.

"Well, you've sustained several bruises and cuts, but they're pretty shallow, Carly. Your vitals look good too. And you don't appear to have a concussion either, which I'm sure will put you and your brother at ease no doubt," Dr. Bernstein continued, an aura of efficiency all around him.

"Her brother is very much at ease about that," Spencer remarked while exhaling in evident relief.

Spencer had nearly gone into cardiac arrest when he opened the front door to his apartment with grocery bags in his arms and saw Sam lying across from him against his sculpture. He had dropped the bags on the floor and run towards her before he had spotted Freddie and Carly lying together behind the sofa. Then he had grabbed the home phone off of the coffee table and called 911 after checking that they all had pulses, since they seemed to be breathing, but shallowly. That had been 5 minutes after the iCarly trio had fallen down the stairs together.

"How is Freddie doing?" Carly questioned frantically while Dr. Bernstein rubbed small pieces of cotton wool across her skin and disinfected the cuts on her cheeks.

"Well, it's difficult to say at this point in time. Since his head hit the back of that sofa in your living room, it's possible that he's sustained a concussion. But he's with my esteemed colleague, Dr. Palmer, so he's in very good hands. If Freddie has a concussion, he'll probably only need a few days of bed rest. But he remembers everything up till falling down the stairs, which means there's no indefinite memory loss, which is a very good sign. His mother's with him right now and Marissa Benson is one of the best and most capable nurses at Seattle Grace. I'm sure Freddie's going to be just fine under her care." Dr. Bernstein stated with a reassuring smile on his face.

Despite his reassuring tone, Carly still winced at that vague memory of Freddie's head hitting the sofa with a loud crunch, the sound overwhelming her ear drums as she shivered slightly.

"And Sam, how's she doing?" Carly demanded anxiously.

"Your friend Sam is a strong one. Anyone else who hit your brother's sculpture would've sustained very serious injuries, but she was very lucky. She's only got that cut on her forehead and a couple of bruises on her arms and legs. Both she and her mom are putting up a bit of a fight with a nurse trying to clean off Sam's head right now, but she's perfectly alright." Dr. Bernstein answered with a pleasant chuckle.

"Thank God," Spencer murmured in relief while pinching the bridge of his nose.

A wave of relief meshed with guilt swam over Carly while she thought about Sam's body flying into the metal sculpture with a loud clunking noise. She grimaced while she tried to quell her disturbing thoughts.

"The position of how she landed is a curious point though," Dr. Bernstein added pensively.

"What do you mean?" Spencer asked curiously.

"Well…from what the paramedic told me – the one who found Sam lying against the sculpture said she thought the position for her landing was all wrong. Based on Carly's own testimony and Sam's overall posture on the ground in conjunction with where she probably would've been positioned on the stairwell before falling over the railing, Sam should've hit the sofa. Instead, Freddie landed against the sofa and Sam went in the opposite direction and hit the sculpture. Strange coincidence, that…" Dr. Bernstein mused in a professional manner.

"Yeah, I guess so." Spencer answered in a bewildered tone, not having understood anything the doctor had said.

But Carly understood all too well what the doctor was saying. Nothing had gone according to plan. If there hadn't been some sort of intervention, Sam would've definitely hit the sofa and Freddie the sculpture. But then Sam might've come out of it unscathed while Freddie could've been the one seriously injured. But as it turned out, the exact same result had still occurred. What had happened in those drastically long 3 seconds? And why couldn't Carly shake that image of blinding light followed by swirling black which had hit her corneas just as Sam had pushed Freddie down the stairs?

"If there's nothing wrong with me, can I go now?" Carly demanded in an abruptly rude tone, which took both Spencer and Dr. Bernstein by surprise.

"Yes, of course. If you experience any severe headaches, dizziness or nausea, come straight back to the hospital. It could be a concussion in that case. Otherwise, don't over-exert yourself and get as much rest as possible." Dr. Bernstein advised with a small smile on his face.

Carly nodded wordlessly at the doctor as Spencer helped her off the hospital bed and helped her put on her jacket. Then Dr. Bernstein opened the curtains hanging all around the bed and Carly followed closely behind Spencer out of the exit without a backwards glance.

* * *

After Pam and Sam had left the hospital together, Carly and Spencer drove back to their own apartment so that Carly could rest. They had popped into Freddie's hospital room briefly, where Mrs. Benson had sat with him throughout during his consultation with a doctor. According to her, Freddie needed to stay overnight at the hospital for observation before being released the following day. Carly bit back the urge to start crying during the car ride, her hollow eyes staring straight ahead as Spencer drove.

"Carls, are you sure you're ok?" Spencer asked worriedly for the umpteenth time once they entered their apartment.

"I'm ok, Spencer, really. Just shaken up and a little tired, that's all." Carly replied as calmly as she could muster, a shaky chuckle escaping her lips.

"You look a little pale though, kiddo. Do you want me to make you some soup?" Spencer asked kindly.

"No thanks, I think I'm just gonna go lie down for a little while and maybe take a nap if I can fall asleep," Carly announced quickly, making her way past the coffee table.

"Watch out for the stairs," Spencer remarked tactlessly before cursing out loud at his insensitivity.

Carly chuckled ever so slightly to show Spencer that it was ok.

"Don't worry about it, Spencer. I'm gonna take the elevator up to my room just to be on the safe side," she answered teasingly.

"Good idea. I'll come wake you up every two hours."

"Spencer, Dr. Bernstein said I don't have a concussion."

"But Dr. Bernstein could be wrong. Humour me just this once, will ya?"

"Fine. I'll see you in a little while." Carly huffed dramatically.

"Alright, kiddo," Spencer called out as he busied himself in the kitchen with making dinner.

Carly got up to her bedroom a few seconds later and shut the door behind her. She leant against the wooden frame of the door for a few moments while catching her breath. She didn't have a headache, but her head was still swimming as if she had one. She knew it was because of all the questions currently swirling around in her mind. And she needed some answers.

What exactly happened downstairs two hours ago?

Carly remembered Sam and Freddie bickering relentlessly before Sam had pushed Freddie down the stairs. Carly clearly remembered being behind Sam when she had done this.

Then there was that strange flash of white when she had realised that Freddie was going to get hurt badly, followed by that abrupt swirl of black.

They had changed positions somehow so that Carly had ended up between Sam and Freddie when they had fallen down the stairs and over the railing.

How had it happened?

Carly squeezed her head between her two hands till it throbbed in pain while she thought it over.

Sam had first been on her right as they fell. But when she had grabbed Freddie, Sam had suddenly switched to her left and hit the sculpture as she and Freddie had hit the sofa and the floor.

She had grabbed Freddie in midair.

But even more startling was that she had somehow knocked Sam out of the way and right into the sculpture.

_But how? _

_And more importantly…why? _

With a gasp of horror, Carly realised that she had done it so that Sam would take the full impact of the sculpture instead of Freddie. She'd done it to protect Freddie from getting hurt or worse, getting killed. And now she felt guilty because Sam could've been hurt in the process. But it had been Sam's fault in the first place – she shouldn't have pushed Freddie down the stairs.

Carly had miscalculated though. By pushing Sam into the sculpture and pulling Freddie along with her, she'd gone off course and Freddie had still hurt himself and gotten a bad concussion. More guilt swept over Carly, followed by a nauseating fear for Freddie's safety and livelihood, which mercilessly flooded her belly.

What was happening to her?

Then Carly shook her head stubbornly. What she was suggesting to herself was impossible. There was no possible way that she could've pushed and pulled at Sam and Freddie in the space of three seconds. Not unless she had super powers that she'd been unaware of up till this point.

Carly reasoned that she desperately needed some sleep and that she would feel better once she woke up. With that thought in mind, Carly shrugged out of her jacket and tossed it onto the chair in front of her dresser. And as she turned back to face her bed, she emitted an involuntary scream.

Someone was standing in front of her bed waiting for her.

Someone encased in brilliant white light, but shrouded in swirling black.

* * *

**Author's Note: Another relatively short chapter, but a good 800 words longer than last week ; ) I hope this clears up certain things about what happened on the stairwell last chapter. But do not despair if you're still as clueless as ever, we will solve the mystery together. Freddie and Sam will return as the story progresses, but this narrative is predominantly Carly oriented. A big thank you to everyone who reviewed the first chapter of this story and put it on 'story alert', your interest in the plot and in my writing is overwhelming : ) Until we meet again next week, I will leave you with one final question: who is the stranger in Carly's bedroom? **


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Heyo! I hope you're taking the new month in your stride. For me, it feels like more of the same thing as last month, meh. I'm having a slightly better week, but I have to make grown-up decisions about my future, yuck. But the muse seems to be in working order again, so I've been writing for this story and some other projects during the week. Now onto the big question: who is the stranger in Carly's bedroom? Are they a friend...or foe? Read below to find out ; )**

**Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly, the characters or even this plot as far as I can tell. I just do the bidding of my muse.  
**

* * *

Carly screamed again, her hand instinctively going to her throat to stifle the noise which came out at the same time. The man continued standing in front of her bed, staring straight back at her and looking utterly nonplussed. When Carly's erratic breathing finally slowed down, she began taking in more of the strange man's appearance.

He was dressed in black from head to toe. A baggy black leather trench coat which still managed to accentuate his lithe and muscular body beneath; a simple black T-shirt from the little Carly could see; black jeans and black calf-high combat boots on his feet. He had raven black hair which looked strangely fair due to the bright white light which encircled his entire being. His skin was almost as pale as the light surrounding him. And he had the bluest eyes that Carly had ever seen on any person before; they were a mesh of brilliant sky blue, but also as pale as crystallised ice.

It was difficult for Carly to tell just how old he was. He looked like he could be about her age, but his eyes seemed to indicate years, possibly millennia, of knowledge and deep-set cynicism.

"Hello, Carly Shay." He greeted in a low voice that was placid, which startled her a great deal.

Then he smiled a brilliant smile, which shook Carly even more than she already was.

"Um…who are you?" she asked in a shaky voice.

"That's not important right now. But I'm sure you must have a lot of questions."

"Oh, just one teensie little question. How did you get into my room? We're on the 8th floor!" Carly exploded abruptly.

"I have my ways," the man responded vaguely while smiling almost mockingly back at Carly.

"Well, whoever the hell you are, you're trespassing in my room. Spencer!" Carly called out instinctively, hoping her brother heard her voice.

The man waited it out patiently, taking a moment to glance at his watch while Carly began sweating profusely.

"SPENCER!" Carly bellowed at the top of her lungs.

"He's not coming, Carly. I've distracted him sufficiently with an idea for a new sculpture. That leaves you and me to talk freely." The man remarked patiently.

"Oh yeah? About what exactly?" Carly snapped impatiently, bristling up defensively as she backed away towards her dresser once more.

"About what's bothering you right now."

"About the accident," the man amended helpfully.

He watched with inward satisfaction when Carly's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates at his words.

"What do you know about the accident?" she demanded hoarsely, feeling the breath in her throat becoming constricted.

"Oh, I know all there is to know about the accident. I know why it happened. And I know why you acted the way you did when you tried to save Freddie's life." The man responded succinctly.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Carly sniffed, feigning indignation at the man's words.

But inwardly, her heart was practically palpitating at his statement. What did he know? And more importantly, how did he know?

"There's no need to pretend for my sake. I'm not here to hurt you, Carly. I'm only here to help you make sense of what happened earlier today." The man continued in a winning voice.

"Really? And how can you possibly help me?" Carly questioned frantically, her entire being overwhelmed with insufferable guilt.

"First off, I can clear up that little matter of you pushing your best friend into a sculpture made out of potentially dangerous weapons." The man replied with a sly smirk on his face.

"It was an accident! I would never wilfully hurt Sam!" Carly exploded furiously, wishing that Spencer would magically come walking up the stairs.

"Of course you didn't do it purposely. But you did make a choice when you pushed Sam out of the way and tried to pull Freddie to safety with you. Except that it didn't work – you almost killed him." The stranger pointed out ominously.

"No, I didn't! Freddie's gonna be fine!" Carly protested hysterically.

"Are you really that delusional, Carly? Freddie has a concussion – it's an extremely temperamental condition. Something could go wrong at any minute with him. All because you pushed him into a sofa." The man replied in a taunting sneer.

"I did it to save him, not to hurt him. The same goes for Sam." Carly responded vehemently, feeling tears forming in her eyes.

"Keep telling yourself that, Carly. Even you get tired of Sam's bullying ways. You wanted to push her, you wanted to hurt her, just like she hurts Freddie all the time. How does that make you feel, Carly? Does it make you angry? Angry enough to spill her blood?" The man questioned with relish, licking his lips subtly while eyeing her steadily.

"Stop it! You're just trying to mess with my head! Well, it's not going to work, I'm not listening to you anymore! You're not real! I'm just having a hallucination, that's all." Carly fumed desperately, covering up her ears with her hands while she paced around her dresser.

"This isn't a hallucination. This is real, Carly. I'm standing in your bedroom and I'm not going anywhere until you face what really happened. Aren't you the least bit curious as to why?" The man persisted in a deathly serious tone.

"What difference does it make? It didn't work! I pushed my best friend into my brother's very dangerous sculpture! Freddie still got hurt badly and now he has a concussion and it's all my fault and-"

Carly couldn't continue pacing any longer, unsteadily bitter tears streaming from her eyes as she sank down into her leather chair next to her dresser. Her shoulders began convulsing violently and her raven black hair formed the perfect curtain around her face while she wept silently. She gasped in surprise when she felt a hand lightly touch her shoulder like a whispering comforting caress.

"It may not have worked, but your heart was in the right place. Or should I say, it was in sync with Freddie's at the time." The man murmured kindly while patting Carly's shoulder lightly.

Something in the strange man's tone caught Carly abruptly off guard while she fixed him with an intense stare.

"What do you mean my heart was in sync with Freddie's?" Carly asked suspiciously.

The strange man withdrew his hand from Carly's shoulder and fixed her with a penetrating stare that shook her right down to her bones.

"When that accident on the stairs happened, your heart, body and mind were in sync with Freddie's. That's why you tried to save him."

"You bonded with Freddie, Carly."

* * *

**Author's Note: Drum roll, please! I was aiming for spooky and eerie on that last part btw ; ) Ok, so we still don't know who this creepy stranger is in Carly's bedroom. But it most certainly is not the spirit of Carly's deceased mother (my apologies to Invader Johnny and sockstar if you're disappointed). More of what transpires here will be expanded on and concluded in chapter 4, which I hope will be a sufficient explanation for all the weirdness Carly's been experiencing. Thank you so much to everyone who's reviewed so far, I'm getting a good vibe about this story, glad you feel the same way : ) Now for a nap because this insane summer heat is driving me crazy (yes, I said it's too hot, aisforangelaaa, I'll happily trade you some sun for a little snow your side, hee hee). Pip pip, cheerio! **


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Notes: Hellooo, shoppers! Just 24 more hours till 'iHire An Idiot' airs on Nickelodeon, I hope you're all as stoked as I am. Unfortunarely, I won't be at home when it's on because I'm going to my cousin's wedding. But I'm going to download the episode as soon I come back through the front door - or would it be too tacky to take my laptop to the wedding? Hmm, these are all good questions. Anyhoo, this is the conclusion to the bedroom scene between Carly and the handsome stranger. This should settle burning questions some of you may have. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly or the idiots who work at Nickelodeon who don't air enough new season 4 iCarly episodes.  
**

* * *

Carly stared at the strange man in her bedroom and he stared back at her.

Then out of nowhere, she began laughing hysterically. He frowned in confusion at her sudden fit of laughter.

"Carly…"

"Bonded? Freddie and I have b-bahahaha…" Carly trailed off, doubling over with hysterical laughter while clutching her stomach, tears streaming from her eyes.

"Carly, this is no laughing matter, I assure you." The stranger warned sternly.

This shut Carly up immediately while she studied his face intently. She couldn't understand how she knew this. But she instinctively guessed that this strange man in her bedroom was more powerful than even he was letting on in this particular moment. The thought both comforted her and made her even more afraid than she already was.

"Ok then, what did you mean by saying that mine and Freddie's hearts are in sync now?" Carly asked curiously, trying to calm her manic laughter.

The strange man fixed Carly with a pensive expression before answering.

"Before I answer, let me ask you something first. When Sam pushed Freddie down the stairs, what were you feeling right beforehand? Did your emotions feel…chaotic or disturbed in any way?" the man asked softly.

That rational part of Carly's brain was reminding her to fear this stranger who had gained access to her bedroom, but she somehow couldn't bring herself to do it. It had been a strange day and her hazy brain was far too curious to finally get some answers. Carly had no idea where he was going with this interrogation. But a part of her instinctively trusted him, even though she still didn't know who he was.

"I don't know really. It was a long day at school and we had just finished iCarly rehearsals. I guess I was feeling tired and a little…irritable, like I was getting a migraine or something." Carly offered vaguely.

The strange man nodded thoughtfully in response while tapping his chin with a lone finger distractedly. To Carly, it looked like he had just confirmed something that he already knew in his mind.

"And Freddie and Sam argued, like usual? Did that cause you irritation?" he asked gently.

"Of course it did! Freddie and Sam can be so childish when they start bickering. I just wanted them to stop." Carly replied vehemently.

"What are you getting at?" she demanded impatiently.

"Wasn't there something more, Carly? Some other emotion that you couldn't quite put your finger on that you were perhaps feeling at the time?"

"Of course not, I was just-"

Carly stopped short and examined what had transpired a few hours ago. She started running her fingernails up and down her arm abstractly while she tried to concentrate.

"There was something else. Sam was really goading Freddie into a fight, more so than usual and I guess I felt like I needed to…step in and stop them before things got out of hand. I had this weird feeling in the back of my mind like something bad was gonna happen." Carly murmured in a distracted voice.

"What happened on the staircase, Carly?" the man asked slowly, his voice low and compelling/.

Carly's heart began thudding erratically as her mind's eye replayed the events in her head, her black pupils expanding and contracting in a split second.

"Sam pushed Freddie down the stairs. I saw him fall and I…blanked out, I guess. Everything started moving really slowly, like time was frozen or something and no one else noticed except for me. I remember reaching out towards Freddie to stop him from falling, and then all three of us fell over the railing. My hands reached out to grab Freddie, and I could feel the air moving like wind all around me. I remember seeing a flash of blinding white light and this swirling black mass on the stairway that…"

Carly trailed off unexpectedly, catching sight of the movement of the stranger's trench coat. The edges of the silky leather were fluttering about his body like it was catching in the breeze, but it was a windless day in Seattle. The ripples of leather swirled about him, making his appearance almost blurred against the fluorescence of the gummy-bear lamp next to the bed.

"It was you." Carly declared in a low murmur, as if there was no one else in the room with her.

"You were on the stairwell when it happened. But how?" she asked blankly, turning to face him again.

For the first time since the beginning of the conversation, the strange man looked momentarily disconcerted.

"Yes, I admit that I was there when the three of you fell down the stairs. I am able to travel between space and time." He explained hastily.

"What are you?" Carly asked in wonder.

"A messenger of sorts," the man offered solemnly.

"You're a messenger. But wait, if you can travel through space and time, you could've helped! Why didn't you try to stop either of us from falling if you were there when it happened?" Carly demanded impatiently, the colour rising in her cheeks.

"It is true, I have the necessary power to prevent certain accidents from occurring. And I would've intervened had it not been for your impulsive decision to take action. Please continue on with your narrative; when you are finished, I will tell you all that I know to explain what happened." The man implored patiently.

Carly hesitated for a fraction of a second before continuing.

"Then Freddie was heading right for Spencer's sculpture, I didn't want him to get hurt. So I pulled him in the opposite direction and I…I pushed Sam against the sculpture. I know it sounds impossible, but I did somehow…like I had a lot of strength or something. But it didn't work, because both Sam and Freddie still got hurt, Freddie more than Sam. Why didn't it work?" Carly asked helplessly, turning to face the brooding stranger standing inside her bedroom with her.

"Your heart was in the right place in trying to prevent your friends from getting hurt. But you were scared and distracted, Carly. That's why you couldn't channel your power sufficiently." the stranger replied stoically.

Carly looked at him with wide eyes.

"So I have powers now?" she questioned in awe.

To her intense surprise, the strange man's grim features lessened and he began chuckling lightly.

"Not in the sense that you have super-human strength or the power to make yourself invisible. It's a type of adrenaline-based energy that only activates in extreme situations, when the one you love is in danger and you're in a position to help." The strange man explained calmly.

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense – wait, what?" Carly exclaimed in amazement, rounding on the stranger.

"Well, that's why you tried to stop Freddie from getting hurt, because you love him, Carly."

"I tried to stop Sam from getting hurt too. That doesn't mean that I'm in love with her."

"But that's not true is it, Carly? You pushed Sam into the sculpture instead of letting Freddie get hit."

"It was an accident. Yes, I did push Sam in the other direction on purpose, but not to hurt her. She landed exactly where I meant for her to, at the base of the sculpture where I knew she wouldn't get hurt. But Freddie…he still got hurt, and I feel awful. It's all my fault."

"Carly, don't blame yourself for what happened. You didn't hurt either Sam or Freddie intentionally. Things might have been worse if you hadn't intervened at all. Freddie could've broken his neck if he had fallen directly down the stairs; you pushing him off to the side may very well have saved his life. He'll be alright in time. As for Sam, she's a tough cookie."

"But why did I push Sam out of the way to shield Freddie?"

"Your actions, Freddie's actions alone…have set certain things in motion." The man declared in a grave voice while he began pacing around Carly's bed.

"What do you mean?" Carly asked worriedly, coming closer towards him.

"It's not something that happens overnight, Carly. This kind of bond can only build up after a long period of time, determined by certain factors such as the male or female involved and the type of dynamic that they shared before the bond was created. Sometimes the bond is hereditary, passed from parents down to their offspring, it's not always clear. You and Freddie are a curious case since you've been close friends for several years. He's been in love with you for all of that time, and you've never reciprocated even with that knowledge in mind. Things might have continued in this fashion if Freddie hadn't pushed you out of the way when you almost got hit by that taco truck a year ago." The stranger explained seriously.

"What are you saying? By saving my life, Freddie somehow tweaked the circumstances and changed both of our fates?" Carly questioned in astonishment.

"Not without due cause. Freddie jumped in front of that taco truck because you probably would've died if he hadn't, Carly. Freddie did it because he loves you. And you tried to do the same on the stairwell because you love him too." The stranger replied earnestly.

"But that's crazy! Sure, I care about Freddie a lot and he's one of my best friends. But he was right before when he said that I never really loved him, I loved the fact that he saved my life. That's all it ever was. I don't love Freddie that way." Carly protested heatedly.

But even while she said the words, the blood was still rushing dangerously to her head, flooding her cheeks and making her feel dizzy. Why was she feeling this way?

"Maybe you don't feel that way for Freddie right now, Carly. But this kind of love can develop in different ways. That's why the bond between you and Freddie has manifested the way it has."

"But what does that mean? Are you saying that Freddie and I are somehow destined to be together…'that way'?" Carly asked in bewilderment while using air-quotes.

"Carly, you and Freddie are only ones who can make that choice for yourselves. But once you've bonded with someone, there's no going back to how things used to be. There's no guarantee of what might happen afterwards if you and Freddie chose to ignore this level of energy and connection between you."

To Carly's surprise, the stranger ended his narrative there and moved towards her bedroom window to climb down the fire escape.

"What does any of this mean? What do I do now?" Carly demanded helplessly, going towards her bed to speak to him.

"That is entirely up to you, Carly Shay. I am not here to choose for you, only to give you information that you require to make the necessary choice." The stranger offered calmly.

"Wait, how do you know all of this? About the bond? About me and Freddie?" Carly questioned hurriedly.

"I guess you can call me an expert of sorts with these kinds of things. I've come across it many times during my existence."

"Your existence? Does this mean that you're some kind of…angel?" Carly prodded delicately, feeling uncomfortable for even asking.

The stranger laughed boisterously while gazing intently at Carly, leaning leisurely on his elbow atop her bedroom window.

"Not exactly. But I suppose that you can call me a…guardian." He explained in a vague manner with a touch of what Carly identified as subtle smugness.

"Wait!" Carly called out one last time before he could disappear.

The man, who was midway through climbing out the window, stopped and regarded Carly with a patient air.

"You've answered more questions than I asked you today and I don't even know your name." Carly declared tentatively, her hands deep in the pockets of her jeans.

The strange man fixed Carly with a brilliant smile which literally took her breath away before answering.

"I haven't been asked that question in a long time."

"Call me Michael." He implored gently.

"Till we meet again, Carly Shay."

"Adieu."

With one last smile and a tiny wave, Michael bent his head and climbed the rest of the way out of the window, leaving Carly standing in her bedroom with a dazed expression on her face.

* * *

**Author's Note: And scene *makes a fist in front of my face and closes my eyes* I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I apologise if it's still too short. If it helps, chapter 5 is a lot longer since I've already written it in advance :D I hope you all enjoy the iCarly fun and the release of Miranda Cosgrove's new "Dancing Crazy" music video happening this weekend. Thank you for all the amazing reviews, they put a smile on my face every time :) Take care of yourselves and don't forget to sniff the fruit salad (just an iCarly joke on the last part)**. **Snapplelinz out! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: Hey there, sports fans! I hope you're all having a fabulous week. I've been taking somewhat of a unexpected hiatus from writing this week and just chilling out. I finally saw both "Dancing Crazy" and "iHire An Idiot" and they were alright. At least Dan and Nickelodeon are off of my hitlist for now ;) I'm releasing this new update earlier than usual on this beautiful Friday afternoon for two reasons: my older sister is in town visiting for the weekend and I'm going to watch U2 live in concert tonight, which is going to be off the chain :D This new chapter is a lot longer than its predecessors, so I hope you'll all enjoy yourselves.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly or Friday, which is my favourite day of the week.  
**

* * *

Even with a cool breeze and warm sunshine cascading over her skin, Carly was not feeling at all like herself on this particular day. She hadn't slept well in the past week since the accident. This was for a host of reasons, mainly because she felt responsible in part for causing injury to both Sam and Freddie, the latter being at the forefront of her mind.

But mostly, it was because of the strange encounter with the even stranger man named Michael that had occurred in her bedroom a few days ago. It was one thing for a complete stranger to scale roughly 8 storeys worth of fire escapes to get into a teenage girl's bedroom just to get her on her own. But it was a completely different thing when this strange person wasn't a creepy stalker or mentally deranged in the least (well, hoped was a better guess), but had important information that he needed to pass onto you when you thought you had almost single-handedly killed your two best friends because of super powers that you may or may not have, and which you were still somewhat in denial about.

Carly was developing an intense migraine just thinking about it. The whole episode with Michael had to have been some elaborate dream. But even as she said the words, she instinctively knew it wasn't true. Somehow, it had really happened and Michael had explained why she had tried to stop Freddie from falling down the stairs.

Try as she might, Carly still couldn't wrap her head around that particular fact. Sure, a guy climbing in and out of her bedroom window was normal next to the notion that she, Carly Shay, was now bonded to Freddie Benson and possibly as much in love with him as he was with her.

She knew she had to go to school today. But she was dreading the moment when she would finally lock eyes with Freddie since the accident. She'd seen him at the hospital when he'd first been admitted, but he had been asleep. Since then, she'd been pointedly avoiding him, even though they lived a foot apart from each other in Bushwell Plaza. Carly still marvelled at how she'd been able to accomplish that while also avoiding contact with Mrs. Benson in the process. She didn't even want to know how she'd be received by the latter, considering this was the second time that Freddie had gotten badly hurt because of her in the space of a year.

Carly felt certain that Mrs. Benson would blame her for this mishap. And truthfully, she couldn't agree more this time around. The guilt was rapidly eating away at her. Plus, there was another feeling altogether gnawing at Carly's insides, which she couldn't shake no matter how hard she tried.

This was torture.

Occasionally, the iCarly trio would carpool with either Spencer or Mrs. Benson to save on gas when the three of them would go to Ridgeway together for school. Both Freddie and Carly had learnt a long time ago that carpooling with Sam's mom could mean the difference between life and death with the way that woman drove. But there was no way that Carly was getting a ride with Mrs. Benson, not this morning. She needed more time to prepare herself for when she'd eventually see Freddie at school.

"Why can't you take the bus?" Spencer whined.

"Because I just can't. Spencer, I need you to give me and Sam a ride to school," Carly protested hysterically.

"But I don't wanna!" Spencer howled dramatically.

"Spencer!" Carly hissed indignantly.

"N-o-o! There's that cute waitress at Gallini's that I wanted to go talk to this morning."

"Spencer, you and I both know that you're not gonna talk to the cute waitress at Gallini's."

"But I could! 43rd time's a charm."

"Spencer!"

"Car-lay!"

"Spencer!"

"Alright, I'll drop you and Sam off at school," Spencer relented.

"But if I don't end up marrying the cute waitress from Gallini's, you will rue the day. Rue it, I tell you."

"I'll try to live with the guilt," Carly retorted dully, retrieving her cellphone to call Sam.

* * *

Things between Sam and Carly had been tentative after the trip to the hospital. But Sam had rallied and gone right back to her old self and Carly had tried to go on like nothing had happened. But Carly was still far too pensive and lost in her own thoughts in the car with Spencer as he drove them to school. Sam didn't try to rouse Carly from her reverie, but munched contentedly on several Fat Cakes at once in the back seat.

"The cut on your head looks like it's healing up quite nicely," Carly noted softly when she and Sam walked into school and down that familiar hallway to their lockers.

Sam shrugged nonchalantly when they finally stopped in front of their lockers. She unlocked the door with the combination and retrieved what looked like a medium-rare steak that had been cooking in her locker overnight in the grill she had installed a few months ago. She speared the steak on a long fork which she also retrieved from her locker and held it in one hand while talking to Carly.

"Meh, it's not so bad, I've had way worse than this before. You remember when my Mom first brought Frothy home from the pet store?" Sam asked casually while tucking into her piece of steak.

"That wasn't a pet store. Your Mom got Frothy from a Russian cab driver, in exchange for a lemur that her boyfriend brought illegally into the country." Carly pointed out wryly.

"Yeah. I told Mom it wasn't a good idea dating someone from South America," Sam quipped dully after slamming her locker door shut, tearing off a strip of meat with her teeth.

"The point is, Frothy bit me on the shoulder when we first got him and that cut throbbed for weeks, plus it turned green. This is a drop in the bucket all things considered," she added more seriously.

"You're right. This is nothing compared to getting bitten by a rabid three-legged cat," Carly quipped with a sarcastic smile, beginning to feel like her old self more and more.

"There you go. It's still pretty chizz with what happened. I mean, when we fell down the stairs, I was sure I would hit the sofa, not Freddork. Weird, right?" Sam asked slowly.

"Yeah, really weird," Carly answered with a shaky smile, feeling some of her old nerves returning to her.

She frowned when she saw a group of girls (recognising a few of them as her fellow friends and classmates) congregating on the stairwell off to the right.

"What's going on over there?" she asked conspiratorially of Sam.

Sam snorted in response and fixed Carly with her signature smirk.

"Isn't it obvious? Fredduccini's returning to Ridgeway as the injured nub – once again," she responded facetiously.

Carly's breath caught in her throat as the crowd of giggling girls thinned and a tall figure with dark brown hair walked through them. She had been mentally preparing herself for this all morning, all week really when you factored in the time spent between deciphering Michael's strange words and now.

But Carly still wasn't ready, still hadn't been expecting the rapid thudding of her heart sounding in her chest nor the sudden clamminess of her hands when Freddie came down the stairwell and started walking towards her and Sam.

Save for a few cuts and scrapes on his face and arms and his generally pallid complexion, Freddie still looked the same as ever. He was wearing a pair of dark blue jeans with black Converse sneakers on his feet and one of his favourite red and white short sleeved golf shirts, one which especially hugged his arm and chest muscles, making him look impossibly burly in all the right places. His brown hair was hanging loosely around his face, part of his fringe partially covering one of his hazel brown eyes like a shield.

To Carly, it felt like she was taking in every single aspect of Freddie the closer he came: his two feet sauntering forward with a subtle grace in them, the way his muscles flexed as his arms swung back and forth at his sides (had Freddie always had that nimble swagger?), the indentation his eyebrows formed when he finally locked eyes with her, the way his mouth creased ever so subtly as if he were caught mid-sentence in saying something extremely profound.

"Hey, Carly. Hey, Sam," Freddie greeted cordially when he finally came to stand in front of his locker.

"So nice of you to finally grace us with your presence, Fredda-chump," Sam greeted back maliciously.

"Sam, having a concussion is very serious. I figured you'd know that since you were the one who pushed me down the stairs," Freddie reminded callously while opening his locker.

"Your sensitivity radar's on high alert, which means you couldn't have been that badly hurt to begin with. Otherwise I'd probably be back in juvie by now," Sam pointed out sardonically as she finished off the rest of her steak.

"Very true. Good thing I told my Mom I was wearing open-toed shoes instead of blaming the whole thing on you," Freddie returned sweetly while retrieving a few of his text books.

"Much obliged to ya," Sam quipped with a click of her tongue and a point of her finger in Freddie's direction miming a gun shot.

"I see your mouth's still working fine, so I'm assuming the rest of your injuries weren't critical either," Freddie quipped dryly.

"What can I say? Mama's got the strength of a bull hyped up on a beaver tranquiliser." Sam replied with an indifferent wave of her hand.

"What about you, Carly? Are you ok?" Freddie asked suddenly.

This snapped Carly out of her reverie, her posture stiffening up even more at Freddie addressing her directly after chatting non-stop to Sam for the past few minutes

"Oh, I'm fine. I just got a few cuts and bruises on my face and shoulder, no biggie," Carly offered with a nervous smile, running her fingers absent-mindedly through her silky black hair while she spoke.

"Oh, alright. It's just that I haven't seen you around Bushwell Plaza that much the past few days. I thought that maybe Spencer was keeping you locked up in your bedroom so that you would avoid the stairs at all costs," Freddie joked feebly with a small smile on his face.

"Oh no, it's not like that. Spencer hasn't been keeping me hostage in the apartment," Carly explained rapidly, trying to match Freddie's jocular tone.

"Then what is it, Carly? Why haven't you come to see me, not even once?" Freddie asked seriously.

Sam shut her locker with a loud bang and turned to face Carly and Freddie. Her face was composed, but beneath the surface, her mind was boiling over with repressed curiosity at this sudden estranged dynamic between her best friend and their iCarly tech producer. And then Freddie started babbling randomly while Carly tried to recover her composure, Sam watching them intently all the while.

"Almost everyone from school tried to come visit me at the hospital, Mom ended up having to put up one of those yellow lines that they use at crime scenes to keep them at bay. Gibby came to see me, shirtless of course and subsequently got thrown out of the hospital; Spencer brought T-Bo with him, and he tried to sell me tacos on a stick. Even Sam came to see me; granted, it was only so she could borrow 20 bucks, but still. Even some random guy named 'Michael' apparently left me some flowers at the nurse's station, so that just leaves you. Where were you, Carly?" Freddie questioned all in one breath, staring intently at Carly all the while.

Carly stopped short before answering, a look of bewilderment and surprise coursing along her features. Someone named Michael had left Freddie some flowers at the nurse's station? Could it be the same Michael, the mysterious man who had gained access to her bedroom just a few days ago intending on catching her on her own? If so, why did he want to see Freddie? To give him the exact same information, just like he had done with her? Or were Michael's motivations really not as innocent as he had made them out to be? Carly's head was swimming with a myriad of questions which seemed to have no designated answer which met the requirements for overriding normalcy.

She pulled herself reluctantly away from the inner workings of her tired brain and focused on both Freddie and Sam, who were frowning in confusion at her vapid indifference to their presence beside her.

"Freddie, I…" Carly trailed off haphazardly, air involuntarily trapped in her throat.

It was hard for Carly to focus, especially when Freddie looked at her like that, like his eyes were piercing right through her chest straight down into her soul…

Just then the bell rang, cutting abruptly into both Carly and Freddie's thoughts.

"Time to head to class. Let's go, Carls…" Sam announced rapidly while slinging her backpack over her shoulder.

A swarm of giggling girls were beginning to form around Freddie once more, desperate for his attention.

"I'll see you in class, Freddie," Carly managed to blurt out before Sam took hold of her hand and led her away before she could be swallowed up by the mass of girls surrounding them.

Carly didn't look back as she walked behind Sam to English, their first class of the day. For a split second, a pang formed in her chest, especially when she imagined that Freddie had looked sad right before they had abruptly parted ways.

* * *

Carly found it extremely hard to concentrate in English in first period. She tried to make herself believe this was because Sam was sitting behind her and by the sounds of it, beaming unsuspecting victims in the head with contents out of a slingshot. On certain days, the unlucky person just got beamed with expired slices of ham; but on a day like this when Sam was being particularly vindictive, people were getting beamed in the head with pebbles and marbles all along Carly's aisle where she sat.

But it had absolutely nothing to do with Sam's delinquent behaviour. Carly could block that out easily enough and focus wholly on what Mr. Devlin was trying to teach them. But today was different because Freddie had decided to sit to her right in the aisle of desks next to hers. Sam usually occupied this seat while Freddie often chose to sit behind Carly with only a view of the back of her head. But today, everything felt like it was happening in reverse for Carly, because she found herself unable to stop staring at Freddie throughout class.

And it didn't help that there was barely a few inches between Carly and Freddie's elbows, which were resting on the wooden tops of their respective desks. Carly could literally feel the sparks of electricity which passed between the small hairs on both hers and Freddie's arms, sending goosebumps rippling all over her body. The lack of contact was beginning to create a vibrating hum all around Carly, making her whole body feel like it was on fire.

Every time she thought Freddie was about to catch her eye, Carly would swiftly revert to looking dead ahead at Mr. Devlin or pretend to stare idly at the pen dangling in her right hand while she tried to take notes. She could hear every single breath of Freddie's in such close quarters; the low murmur of air pushing in and out of his throat was beginning to drive Carly insane. And then there was the way that his Adam's apple throbbed when he occasionally took a sip of his water during intervals or the way his muscles creaked subtly in his arms and legs when he stretched out to get more comfortable. Carly was startled when she realised that she didn't know what Mr. Devlin had been trying to teach them for the past 30 minutes.

And there was still 50 more minutes of this torture to get through.

Carly groaned inaudibly and buried her head in her books resting on her desk top, praying that the minutes on the clock above the white board would just whiz by.

* * *

Much of the day continued on in this fashion, Freddie sitting next to Carly in almost all of their classes that they had together, much to her intense chagrin. She, Freddie and Sam had Math as their last class for the day and Carly was already counting down the time when Spencer would come pick her up from school and take her home. She had already begun hurriedly packing her textbook, notebook and pencil case into her backpack 2 minutes before class was supposed to end, escaping being the only tangible thought in her mind at this point.

Mercifully, the bell finally rang and Carly was literally the first one out of her seat, her backpack slung over her shoulder as she darted out of the classroom.

As it turned out, a couple of classes being held on the first floor as Carly's Math class had been let out early. So Carly was surprised when she encountered a horde of Ridgeway students, all milling around her as she proceeded towards the stairs. She wasn't aware that Freddie was behind her until he called out to her.

"Carly!"

She whipped around on the balls of her feet just as a guy slammed into her shoulder, throwing her off balance just a little. Freddie was by Carly's side in an instant, gliding through the crowd to get to her. Several people continued pushing past both Freddie and Carly as they stood together, staring wordlessly at each other. Another guy's school bag hit Carly right in the back, sending her stumbling forward right into Freddie.

Freddie instinctively reached out and grabbed Carly's arms to steady her as more of the student body flooded all around them. His back was facing the stairwell below them and he quickly shuffled his feet so that both he and Carly were standing out of harm's way. And he had done all of this while still keeping a firm hold on Carly's arms, slowly encircling her waist to steady the rest of her body.

She was made aware of this fact when she felt a ticklish burn coursing along her pale skin before looking down to see the proof of Freddie touching her. Carly looked up at Freddie to say something and stopped short. His brown orbs were flickering with dancing amber flames of intensity, much like earlier that morning when he had asked her why she hadn't come to see him since his trip to the hospital. Once again, Carly was having trouble breathing as her heart rate began speeding up without her consent. Michael had said that she and Freddie had somehow bonded during that little mishap on the stairwell in her apartment – was this why she was so hyper aware of every aspect of him today? The way he looked, the way he moved, the way he talked, the way he breathed? Carly wasn't even aware that her hands were now resting on Freddie's chest while they stood together in the crowded hallway.

"Carly? Are you ok?" Freddie asked in concern when Carly made no effort to break the awkward silence between them.

Carly shuddered involuntarily at the sound of his voice, titillating and soothing against her thrumming eardrums, the air from his breath subtly fanning her face. Even though much of the crowd had dissipated and there was no longer any chance of either of them falling, Freddie still hadn't let go of Carly, nor she of him either.

How much time had passed? Carly surmised that it had only been a few seconds since Freddie had caught up with her after class. Was this how it was going to be from now on? Time constantly slowing down just for the two of them – time handed to them to make their connection all the more strong and palpable?

Carly wasn't about to stick around and find out.

"I have to go," she murmured wearily.

She found just enough strength to push Freddie's hands off of her arms and to disentangle herself from his grasp. Then Carly swung her bag strap over her shoulder, swept down the stairs and out of the school without a backwards glance.

* * *

Carly barely said an entire sentence to Spencer whilst in the car with him. Luckily, Spencer was in an extremely animated and talkative mood, eager to share his latest sculpture concept with his kid sister. And Carly was only too happy to nod along tentatively and pretend she was listening to a word Spencer was saying as they drove back to Kennedy Square. Spencer didn't pick up on Carly's mood at all as they strolled through the lobby of Bushwell Plaza and pointedly ignored Lewbert's usual rant about a recently mopped floor.

Carly finally managed to shake Spencer off, making an excuse about having to do homework. She'd fed Sam the same excuse, sending her best friend a text on her Pear Phone. Naturally, Sam had texted back and still offered to come by and watch Carly do homework while eating some of Spencer's leftover Spaghetti Tacos. Carly declined the somewhat generous offer, feigning exhaustion and wanting to get an early night once she had finished with her mountain of homework which awaited her. But mostly, she just wanted some time alone with her tumultuous thoughts, to try and sift through the chaos to make some sense out of it all.

In truth, Carly had already done the majority of her homework during lunch because she hadn't had an appetite. So the residue of her homework took her about 20 minutes to finish. When that was done, Carly spent another 2 hours pacing the length of her bedroom soundlessly, stopping occasionally to lie back on her bed and stare at the ceiling. Then she finally had enough and decided to take a shower to calm her nerves.

The shower seemed to do the trick, the hot water coursing along Carly's skin and easing the tension in her muscles. She stayed in the shower longer than usual and ended up washing her hair and rinsing it thoroughly under the shower nozzle. When she eventually switched off the faucets, she towelled her hair dry and slipped into a pair of light grey skinny jeans, a long-sleeved off-the shoulder dark grey shirt with a black tank top underneath and some fuzzy slippers. Her black hair had become bouncy and wavy as it began to dry slowly. Carly entered her bedroom once more and decided to put on her stereo and listen to some music till Spencer called her to come downstairs for dinner, feeling slightly more relaxed.

That was until she heard someone rapping sharply on her bedroom window from outside the fire escape. Then her composure faltered completely.

* * *

**Author's Note: I know what you're thinking: when is this damn Snapplelinz going to stop with her ridiculous cliffhangers? How many more strange men can come through Carly's bedroom window in a single story? Well let's be honest, Dan could easily make that happen with an episode of iCarly ;) Alright, I'm off to go primp and put on my rock attire**. **Thank you so much for the wonderful reviews and critiques of this story, it means so much to me. I hope you all have a terriffic weekend, cheers!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: Hey, everyone! I hope you're all having a great week. Mine's been kinda trippy in all honesty, can't really figured out what happened to it. Besides some minor Internet issues, I'm able to upload this new chapter for your viewing pleasure. If I appear to be extra gleeful, it's because this is my favourite chapter to write so far - you shall soon see why ;) Happy reading.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly, Dan Schneider or Nickelodeon. But damn, that sure would be swell.  
**

* * *

Carly's heart was in her chest while she stared in horror at her bedroom window, where the drapes still covered it. Her first thought went to Michael, but then she frowned in confusion. He had appeared in her bedroom the last time – why would he suddenly take the trouble to knock first on the window before entering?

Just then a soft muffled voice rang out from the darkness.

"Carly?"

Carly knew that voice well. She experienced a great many competing emotions all at once when she heard it: warmth, comfort, surprise.

Fear.

It was Freddie.

"Carly!" His voice called out once again.

His insistent tone was far too compelling to ignore now. A fresh batch of goosebumps erupted all over Carly's arms, which had absolutely nothing to do with the shower she'd just taken. With an audible sigh, Carly trudged towards her bedroom window and opened up the curtains with a loud metallic scratching sound.

The parted curtains revealed Freddie standing just beyond the window pane, his usually neat brown hair tousled, as if he had run his hands through it about a billion times beforehand. A sudden tingling sensation shot through Carly's fingertips, her eyes drawn back towards Freddie's dishevelled features. He was still wearing the same clothes he'd been wearing all day at school. This vulnerable side of him made her heart pound even more.

"Freddie," Carly murmured, as if saying his name for the first time in her life.

Freddie stepped back automatically to give Carly enough room to open her window and climb through it, till she stood in front of him on the metal grates of the fire escape.

"Hi," Freddie murmured with a self-conscious wave.

"Hi," Carly murmured back, her arms wrapped tightly around her chest in an equally self-conscious manner.

A few seconds of uncomfortable silence followed before Carly asked her next question.

"It's pretty dark out. What are you doing here, Freddie?" she asked seriously.

What was he doing here? Freddie honestly couldn't think of a good enough reason. It was like one of those cartoons where one of the characters follows the aroma of a delicious meal or the scent of an intoxicating perfume, floating about comically in mid-air, a goofy expression on their face all the while. But it wasn't the smell of food or perfume this time, mostly just the idea of Carly being a few feet away in the building complex and Freddie desperately wanting to see her that led him along on his merry way.

He still couldn't explain it to himself, why he was feeling the way he had the past few days. The accident on the stairwell in the Shay's apartment had made things unnecessarily murky. To begin with, there was the head injury that had made Freddie nauseous and dozy on most days. It had been quite a feat to evade his mother this evening, who had literally been his shadow all week long since his second trip to the hospital in the space of a year.

She had been in his bedroom non-stop: fluffing his pillows, changing the bandages of his shallow cuts and brushing his hair back each time so she could make sure the cut on the back of his head wouldn't bleed again; feeding him bowls of mashed up fruit and vegetables for sustenance; supervising his showers and baths and assisting when it was mostly unnecessary. Freddie imagined that his mother got some kind of morbid pleasure out of the whole ordeal. But mostly, he knew she was just immensely worried about him, so he didn't give her too much grief over it. He hated the fact that he caused her heart to stand still for the second time in over a year, thinking that he'd met with some terrible fate.

According to Dr. Palmer, there was no permanent cerebral damage, which was a great relief to Freddie. The headaches had been excruciating at times, making it difficult for him to sleep on certain nights, making him befuddled and disconcerted for the better part of the day. And the nausea had made eating and keeping food down almost an impossibility. But that hadn't been the worst part for Freddie. The hardest part so far had been Carly withdrawing abruptly from him. He was so used to them spending so much time together, between school and iCarly, so used to her presence in his life that he'd almost taken it for granted, having easy access to her friendship. But the past few days had left him wanting more, more than past days spent of watching Carly through his peep-hole or following her around aimlessly, more than fleeting hugs and stolen kisses once upon a time.

What had changed so drastically between them?

"Uh, I don't know, really." Freddie admitted sheepishly while running a nervous hand through his hair.

That in itself was the truth, since he couldn't find the right words to verbalise exactly what he really wanted to say, not just yet anyway. It was even harder to concentrate with the way Carly looked in her long-sleeved off-the-shoulder black shirt which clung to her skin, exposing a sliver of her shoulder which literally gleamed under the glare of street lamps in close proximity. And then there was her jeans which hugged every curve of her body and her waistline in an unfair way which drew Freddie's attention more than once. His eyes kept reverting back to the way that Carly kept absent-mindedly touching tendrils of her wet dark brown hair, twirling strands around her index finger. The impulsive desire to touch Carly caused Freddie's hands to tremble at his sides and his pulse to quicken while they stood together under the silvery moonlight.

"Won't your Mom be mad at you sneaking out?" Carly questioned in somewhat of a sardonic tone.

"Probably. But I think I'll risk her impending wrath just this once. I wanted to see you, Carly." Freddie answered simply.

"Are you ok?" he asked abruptly, taking Carly by surprise.

"Uh yeah, I guess I'm fine – what do you mean?" Carly questioned all in one single breath.

"Are _you_ ok, Freddie?" Carly asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Freddie answered automatically.

"No, you're not, Freddie," Carly retorted impatiently, which surprised Freddie.

He furrowed an eyebrow in confusion, causing Carly's cheek to flush with embarrassment.

"It's just that…you suffered from a severe concussion, because you hit your head against my sofa. You could've been badly hurt. Don't play it down for my sake, Freddie." Carly implored vehemently.

Freddie grimaced disconcertedly while he struggled to look Carly directly in the eye, his hands thrust deep in his pants pockets.

"Ok, you're right. It was pretty bad and my Mom freaked out…a lot. But I'm really ok, Carly. It's definitely not as bad as getting hit by a taco truck." He murmured earnestly.

"Does your Mom hate me now?" Carly questioned in a resigned manner.

"Of course. But she'll get over it," Freddie responded smoothly, causing Carly to smile wryly.

"Are you sure you're really ok, Freddie?"

"As sure as Sam Puckett loves assorted meats."

"Promise?" Carly asked in a small voice.

"Promise," Freddie replied with a reassuring smile on his face.

"If you don't believe me, take a closer look," he suggested with his signature smirk in place once again.

Carly frowned in confusion, causing Freddie to chuckle lightly. Before Carly could stop him, Freddie had taken her hand in his and moved it towards the lone cut on his forehead, which had already healed into a faint brown line as thin as a strand of hair with only the faintest traces of pink surrounding it.

"See? It's just a little scar now. I'll probably always have the one on the back of my head, but at least my hair will hide it. But this one in the front will be gone in another week or two," Freddie declared evenly.

While Freddie spoke, Carly found herself absent-mindedly tracing the curve of the tiny scar with her index finger. The scar itself felt scratchy, but the surrounding skin on Freddie's forehead was soft and smooth, much like the rest of his face. Carly found it hard to believe that she was the cause of that little tiny scar on Freddie's body.

Freddie's slight intake of breath ghosted over Carly's hand, sending a cold shiver down her spine and bringing her abruptly back to Earth from her abstract thoughts. She drew back her hand as if she had been burned and hooked her fingers hurriedly through the loops in her jeans. The action hadn't gone unnoticed by Freddie, who looked bewildered and a little hurt by her not-so-subtle rebuff.

"Why have you been avoiding me lately, Carly?" Freddie demanded more seriously, finally voicing some of his insecurities.

"What? That's just – I haven't been avoiding you, Freddie." Carly mumbled self-consciously, digging her hands deeper into her jeans pockets while staring pointedly at the ground and not meeting Freddie's penetrating stare.

"Are you mad at me?" Freddie pressed in a painstaking tone.

Carly lifted up her eyes to stare at Freddie in confusion, her own eyes crinkling in sympathy at the look of remorse on his face.

"What? No, of course not. Why would I be mad at you, Freddie?" Carly asked in concern, not knowing where Freddie was going with his interrogation.

Freddie shrugged before answering, a deep sigh escaping from his chest as his shoulders sagged a little.

"I don't know. I guess I just thought with the accident and Sam…I was fighting with her beforehand, that's why she pushed me down the stairs. I get it if you blame me for what happened." Freddie clarified reluctantly.

Carly's eyes widened to the size of saucers at this, her heart pounding harder in her chest as her current emotions shifted altogether.

"You think I blame you for what happened? Freddie, that's crazy! If anyone's to blame, it's me! This is my fault!" Carly exploded furiously, taking Freddie completely by surprise.

"How is this your fault, Carly? You weren't even involved in the fight," Freddie reminded seriously.

"I know, but I just…I didn't mean for any of this to happen, I'm just so…" Carly stammered, finding it difficult to say what she was really thinking and feeling.

Carly was becoming increasingly frustrated with herself and her incoherent rambling, angry tears forming in her eyes, threatening to spill down her cheeks. Freddie's eyes widened in concern, stepping instinctively closer to Carly while she tried to keep her composure, her head bowed.

"Carly," Freddie murmured tentatively, reaching out towards her.

Carly willed herself not to think of how enthralling Freddie's sounded in close proximity. She could feel a certain panic rising up inside of her, something she had tried to avoid thinking about all day, ever since Freddie had held her in his arms on the stairwell at Ridgeway to stop her from falling. She had felt so safe in his embrace. But with that very comfort and warmth came a sudden feeling of scorching intensity. The burn was back and it was slowly stealing along the edges of her face with pulsing alacrity. Where was it coming from?

Freddie's fingers had been resting on Carly's chin while she stared back at the ground. But when she moved her head upwards abruptly to find the source of the burn, his fingers slipped out of place and fell onto her curvy lips instead. Carly stifled the gasp threatening to erupt from her throat at Freddie's gentle touch. Freddie, however, didn't move a muscle, his fingers still tracing a thin line across Carly's lips, his other hand still resting on her arm. Carly's mind returned to what had broken her thought processes in the first place, reverting back to that incessant burning.

Carly couldn't remember when she had decided to rest her hands against Freddie's chest, a feeling of dejavu creeping over her. But now that she was made aware of it, she could feel the vibrations of Freddie's heart expanding and contracting in his chest with each loud thump. His heart rate was speeding up the longer she touched him.

With increasing alarm, Carly realised with sudden trepidation that it was Freddie's touch causing a silent flame to ignite deep inside of her. Only now, the burn was creeping along her skin, overwhelming her senses with his familiar scent of Axe deodorant and fabric softener, the touch of his hands, the look in his eye.

Neither of them was sure who leant in first. But from the get-go, it was a bewildering crashing and mashing of limbs, bodies and lips pressed together in the overture of heated fervour. Freddie's grip on Carly's body was so tight, it was almost suffocating, holding her in place while his fingers raced across the exposed skin on her shoulder blade. She emitted a muffled gasp at the feel of his mouth moving with hers, his tongue stroking at the contours of her lips, painting a line of fire in their wake. And as much as she wanted to quell the sudden flame, Carly only aided in stoking it further by compelling her body closer to Freddie's till there was no more room left between them, her hands in his hair and her eyes closed while peppering his lips with soft kisses, hard kisses, desperate kisses, their mouths in the shape of a 'V' as they met in mid-air, joined, then parted and moved together seamlessly.

And much like her movement on the stairwell, Carly ended up disengaging hers and Freddie's lurid embrace by spontaneously shoving at his chest, much like she had done when she had pushed Sam into Spencer's sculpture. They broke apart, gasping and panting loudly for air. Carly stared at Freddie in wonder while touching her lips with her finger tips, as if they had been stung. Freddie on the other hand, looked positively dazed and hurt by Carly's sudden rejection.

"I can't do this, I'm sorry." Carly mumbled in horror, her hand running precariously through her damp hair as she spoke.

"Carly, it's ok-"

"No, it's not ok, Freddie! Nothing's ever gonna be ok again!" Carly fumed, angry tears spilling down her cheeks which she wiped away at hastily.

"I was afraid this would happen," she whispered bleakly a second later.

"Afraid? What are you talking about, Carly? What's going on?" Freddie demanded in bewilderment, confused by Carly's unusual change in emotion.

"This can't be happening, I don't want this," Carly mumbled in a frenzied tone, more to herself than Freddie.

Freddie shook his head resolutely and moved to Carly, taking her hand in his as he tried to engage her.

"Look, Carly. I don't know what's going on or what's been going on between us for the past few days. But I came here tonight because I needed to see you. I can't explain any of this, but I have to be near you somehow, that's all I know. I want this," he declared earnestly, using his thumb to caress the back of Carly's hand in a soothing manner.

"No you don't, Freddie, just trust me when I say that to you. I don't want this, not like this. This thing between us is like a drug; it's a disease that could eventually tear us apart. You and I, we've always been close, the best of friends. But then we bonded and now everything's changed…"

"Just stop right there, Carly. I think I know what you're going to say next and I'm not sure that I wanna hear it again." Freddie interjected in a curt tone.

Carly stopped short in the middle of her narrative and looked up at Freddie. She was astounded by the sudden look of severity on his face while he looked back at her.

"What do you mean?" she asked in bewilderment.

"I really don't need to hear that same song and dance about how much you care about me, but how we can only ever be friends because we share this incredibly 'special bond' that no one else has. You can't keep doing this to me, Carly: getting my hopes up just to trash them every time. I can't keep doing this, you're just making this harder than what it has to be," Freddie fumed exasperatedly, the pain evident in his tone.

"That's not what I intended, Freddie," Carly stammered painstakingly, feeling a new onslaught of tears ensuing in the next few seconds.

"It never is with you, Carly. It just seems to happen with you, especially when I'm involved. So I'll make this really simple for you," Freddie concluded jadedly.

Then he swept past Carly and began climbing briskly down the metal ladder of the fire escape till his head disappeared completely from view. Carly watched him go, her heart deflating rapidly at his unexpectedly harsh words. Freddie had never looked at her like that before, and it hurt more than what she could vocalise into words. Clumps of salty tears began falling from her eyes while her shoulders shook with repressed dejection.

Michael had gotten it completely wrong.

There was no connection whatsoever.

Carly and Freddie hadn't bonded at all.

Because Carly had never felt more alone than in this particular moment.

* * *

**Author's Note: Ok, less of a cliffhanger in this chapter. More like a mean note to end Creddie on...for now ;) Feel free to pelt me with rotten eggs, I deserve it. Just not at the hair, it's my pride and joy. Some of you may have noticed that I changed the genre on this story from 'Mystery/Supernatural' to 'Supernatural/Romance'. Based on this particular chapter, I thought it was best to keep it real. Congrats to sockstar for correctly guessing who the intruder in Carly's bedroom (or fire escape) was - here's $500. Go buy yourself something pretty :) And for baronvonmilo's audio pleasure, I had two songs in mind while writing this chapter:**

**1) "Heartbeat" by Enrique Iglesias ft Nicole Scherzinger**

**2) "Bloodstream" by Stateless (OST Vampire Diaries)**

**Ok, I'm off to go write chapter 7 because let's face it, it's not gonna write itself (no matter how much I'd like to just will it into existence with the power of my mind, tee hee). Cheers!  
**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: Hey, everyone! I hope you're all having a fabulous week, whether you're at school, work, or just lazing at home like me ;) Thank you for all the wonderful reviews for this story, it makes my heart swell so :) For some of you who wanted a long chapter for this story, here it finally is. Some of you might be pleased by what transpires in this chapter, especially Fanfic-Reader-88 and Carl Rahl, hee hee. Enjoy this one on me :D**

**Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly or any elements of the supernatural or evidence of a higher power.  
**

* * *

Carly slept badly that night. After she had shrugged out of her clothes and put on a pair of cotton pyjamas, Carly ignored her bouncy trampoline which would usually transport her straight onto her comfy duvet and simply collapsed onto her bed with a loud sigh and a heavy heart. She tossed and turned for hours before landing on her back and staring aimlessly at her ceiling fan overhead, her dark eyes the colour of black.

Against her better intentions, Carly decided to carpool with Sam and Pam the following morning on their way to Ridgeway. There was no way that she was carpooling with Freddie and Mrs. Benson after what had happened the night before. Carly needed to prepare herself yet again for when she would inevitably see Freddie and to give herself time to make a break for it if necessary.

The things he had said to her had really stung. Carly had always thought that Freddie was so in sync with what she was thinking and how she was feeling most of the time; his misunderstanding of what she'd been trying to tell him had come as a complete surprise to her. Carly wasn't so much angry at Freddie as she was at herself. Maybe Freddie had been unnecessarily harsh, but his words had hit home with Carly somehow.

She realised now how much her mixed signals in the past had hurt him, in light of their brief romance when she'd been sure that she was in love with him and he had rebuffed her. How could he possibly understand what was happening between them now? And more importantly, why would he suddenly believe that her feelings were real this time around?

But that was just it.

Carly still wasn't sure whether her feelings for Freddie were real or merely a product of yet another accident which could've been avoided. What was the difference between almost getting hit by a taco truck and falling down the stairs? How could there possibly be any difference between the two?

"Earth to Carly!" Sam called out in a booming voice, cupping her mouth with her hands.

Carly snapped out of her reverie and looked around her. She and Sam were standing outside the lab on the first floor at Ridgeway where they usually had their Environmental Science lectures. Carly remembered taking out her cellphone as a pretence for checking to see if she had any text messages, but had ended up drifting off into space. She must've zoned out for a while if Sam was trying to get her attention.

"What's up with you today, Cupcake?" Sam asked gently, a curious frown on her face.

Carly turned to face her best friend, arranging her face into what she hoped was a mask of dazed serenity.

"What do you mean?" she asked tentatively of Sam, feigning innocence.

"Carly, you've barely paid attention to a word I've said all day, and lunch is already over. I was prepared to let it slide as you still recovering from Pam's driving earlier this morning. But now that I think about it, you've been acting really weird lately. What's going on?" Sam questioned seriously.

"Nothing's going on, Sam. I'm just feeling really out of it today, that's all." Carly responded rapidly, trying her best to smile reassuringly.

"Wait!" Sam exclaimed sharply with one hand raised in the air, taking Carly completely by surprise.

"What?" Carly asked in alarm, clutching her hand to her chest.

"Something's wrong. It's too quiet around here…" Sam trailed off suspiciously, her nostrils flared as if she had caught the scent of something really foul.

"Wait a minute, of course it's quiet. Fredlumps isn't here," Sam pointed out knowingly.

Carly was astonished that it had taken Sam so long to realise that Freddie hadn't pitched for his first and second period classes, which all three of them shared. It had taken Carly about three minutes into the first class of the day to realise Freddie's absence and to deduce that he probably wouldn't be at school all day while Sam had been happily eating a Fat Cake at her desk. Had she really become that acutely aware of Freddie's presence around her? Carly found that she was intensely disappointed by the fact that Freddie had decided to avoid her today instead of the other way around.

"And you only just noticed now?" Carly asked flippantly, slinging her backpack over her shoulder as she began walking away from the lab with Sam following closely behind her.

"Well, yeah. Granted, I'm always ecstatic when the dork isn't following us around 24-7 and actually gives us some proper 'girl time'. But still, it's not like Frednerd to wilfully skip class. Is he sick or something?" Sam inquired thoughtfully, turning to face Carly.

"Don't know," Carly replied dully with a shrug of her shoulders while glancing down at her feet.

Something in the defensive way that Carly delivered her words immediately struck Sam. She had been walking ahead the entire time; but now, she stopped dead in her tracks and rounded on Carly, who frowned in confusion at the look in her best friend's eye.

"What did you mean by that?" Sam pressed suspiciously.

"Mean by what? What are you talking about, Sam?" Carly asked wearily.

"Do you really not know why Freddie's not at school?" Sam questioned seriously.

"That's what I just said." Carly retorted impatiently before stalking past Sam.

"Ok, am I missing something here? Do you know why Freddie cut class today?" Sam persisted, following quickly behind Carly.

"How should I know why Freddie cut class today? I'm not his personal assistant." Carly answered shortly, her bag knocking against her hip as she walked.

"You do know something. What's going on? Did you and Fredturd have a fight or something?" Sam questioned curiously.

"No!" Carly exclaimed in a ringing tone, realising at the last minute that she wasn't doing a very good job of masking her true feelings and keeping Sam's suspicions at bay.

"Ok, so something definitely happened, huh? Was he all upset about you not showing up to spoon-feed him jello at the hospital last week?" Sam pressed eagerly.

"Not exactly. He kinda showed up outside my bedroom window last night on the fire escape and-"

"Wait, you spoke to Freddie last night? I thought you had a ton of homework, to do" Sam interjected impatiently.

"Well, the thing is…" Carly trailed off, still trying to figure out what she was going to say.

"Carly!"

Both Carly and Sam whipped around and gazed on in surprise. Freddie had just stepped out of the bathroom and came bounding down the hallway. He reached them a few seconds later, clutching his backpack to his shoulder and completely out of breath.

"Cutting class, Benson? I guess you're just as much a delinquent as I am," Sam stated devilishly by way of greeting.

"Not now, Sam. Carly, I need to talk to you." Freddie interjected rudely, cutting Sam off completely as he focused on Carly.

Sam cocked her neck to stare at Freddie in amazement while he wilfully ignored her. Carly only faltered for a split second before she made up her mind on what she wanted to do next.

"I can't, I'm late for class," she replied crisply as she began walking away from both Sam and Freddie.

"Carly, wait a minute," Freddie persisted as he began following her.

"So where have you been all morning, Fredward? Do you know that I had to copy Gibby's notes during History? That shirtless nub does not know how to write…" Sam rambled on, deciding to play along and walk alongside Freddie instead as he pursued Carly.

"Sam, I really don't have time for this right now!" Freddie spat impatiently, rounding abruptly on Sam.

Without waiting for the usual retort, Freddie began jogging after Carly, who was speeding walking rapidly down the hallway. Sam shook her head at her two best friends, wondering what on Earth was going on with them. She admitted that she wasn't always the most observant person in the world, especially when presented with a large glazed ham. But she was very much attuned to everything Carly said and did, mostly because Carly never did anything out of the ordinary. As for Freddie, she knew that he only got testy with her when something serious had happened.

Sam was dying to know what was going on with the two of them. But in an unusually considerate manoeuvre, she decided to keep her distance for the moment. It was obvious to anyone with eyes that whatever it was, Carly and Freddie clearly needed to talk things out, and preferably in private. Sam consoled herself with the notion that Carly would eventually tell her all about it because her best friend was incapable of keeping a secret for very long.

Just then Gibby came sidling up alongside Sam with his backpack slung over his shoulder.

"Hey, Sam. Have you seen Freddie?" he asked curiously of the blonde-headed demon.

"He's not here," Sam retorted crisply.

"Well, have you seen him? I asked him to put a couple of 'Galaxy Wars' episodes on a flash drive for me," Gibby persisted vehemently.

"Gibby, whatever dorky hobby you and Frednerd have got going on the side is no concern of mine. As for Count Dorkula, he's talking to Carly right now. So beat it!" Sam barked loudly, causing Gibby to take off down the hallway in a fearful blur.

"Gibbys are way too easy," Sam noted in an aside with a self-satisfied smirk.

"Carly! Wold you hold on a second?" Freddie called out.

"Carly!" Freddie snapped impatiently, grabbing Carly by the arm and forcing her to stop and face him.

Freddie's actions caused Carly to swell with a myriad of emotions, namely anger and indignation for the time being. She tried her best to ignore the familiar burn that was creeping along her skin from Freddie's touch.

"What was that for?" Carly demanded heatedly.

With the way that Carly's chest was heaving from her startled breaths, Freddie's eyes rested momentarily on her mouth. Why did her lips have to be so damn kissable right now?

"You wouldn't stop when I called out to you," he protested, matching her tone, trying to focus on the situation at hand.

"Because I'm stopping off at my locker to grab my books before I head to my next class." Carly retorted impatiently.

"That can wait. I need to talk to you about last night, Carly." Freddie persisted seriously.

"I thought you made yourself pretty clearly when you left me standing by myself on my own fire escape after you kissed me," Carly retorted in a huff before stalking off again.

Freddie sighed wearily and began walking after Carly once more.

"I said a lot of things in the heat of the moment. But the things you said last night made even less sense," he pointed out reluctantly.

"If this is your idea of an apology, then you're doing a pretty lousy job, Freddie." Carly snapped callously over her shoulder.

"Ok, you're right. I acted like a jerk last night and I'm sorry, Carly. But I need to know something. What were you trying to tell me before I left?" Freddie asked seriously, keeping in perfect sync with her every stride

"Why do you even care? I barely got a word out before you jumped down my throat after that!" Carly hissed with a haphazard gesture of her hand in Freddie's direction.

"I didn't sleep at all last night trying to figure out what you were trying to say to me before I stormed off. I never meant to say or do anything to hurt you, you have to believe that, Carly. It's just that you've been acting so weird lately, I wanted to know if you were mad at me. I thought you were trying to let me down easy when you started talking about us 'bonding'. But the more I thought about it, the less sense it made. When you've given me that whole 'we're better off as friends' speech in the past, you've always led with the 'special bond' stuff. But then you mentioned that what we have is like a 'drug' and a 'disease' and that got me really confused. What did you mean by that?" Freddie pressed firmly, cutting across Carly to stand in front of her and block her path.

"Freddie, I really don't have time for this right now," Carly stated wearily with one hand on her hip.

"Carly, is there something going on with you that I don't know about?"

"Why can't you just leave me alone?" Carly demanded miserably, feeling strangely close to tears.

"So there is something going on. Carly, I know you better than most people and I've never seen you look so unhappy and stressed out before. We've always been able to be honest with each other – why can't you tell me what's wrong?" Freddie pleaded painstakingly.

"It's complicated, Freddie." Carly replied dejectedly.

"Then explain it to me!"

"I can't!" Carly shot back angrily.

"Why not?" Freddie asked in a hurt tone.

"Because…you wouldn't understand, Freddie. If you were so ready to think the worst of me and my intentions last night, then there's no telling what you might do if you actually knew the truth." Carly explained morosely.

"Carly…" Freddie pleaded, but to no avail.

"I have to get to class," Carly mumbled before walking off.

With her shoulders slumped and her head bent downwards, Carly moved through the mass of students as she made her way to her locker. She wished she hadn't been so abrupt with Freddie, but it was too late to take it back now. She wanted to talk to him about everything that happened, but having that particular conversation at school of all places was not the solution. Carly wished it could be simple, but she instinctively knew that this was just the tip of the iceberg for the road she and Freddie were travelling down. Why did everything have to be so confusing?

Carly barely saw where she was walking until she collided head-first into a thick-muscled arm covered in a letterman jacket. It took Carly about 5 seconds of massaging the newly formed bump on her forehead to realise that she had bumped into Rory Blake: a senior and captain of the football team. On any other day, Carly would've happily killed Lewbert and fed him to a group of starving sharks without a second thought just to talk to Rory Blake for 5 minutes next to her locker. But today, Carly just couldn't bring herself to make the effort to even pretend to flirt with the good-looking upperclassman. Ever since Freddie's accident on the stairs, everything seemed to be working backwards.

"Carly Shay! The pride and spirit of Ridgeway! Go Bulldogs!" Rory called out boisterously before mimicking a barking dog.

"Hey, Rory. Sorry about bumping into you," Carly apologised self-consciously while leaning forward to open her locker.

"It's cool, I didn't even feel it," Rory responded nonchalantly.

He didn't say anything else, but continued standing there while Carly began putting some of her books into her locker.

"Was there something you wanted?" she asked politely when Rory made no effort to break the silence.

"Right. I totally lost my train of thought there, Beautiful. Well, as you know, Senior Prom's coming up in a few weeks and the juniors on the Prom Committee are in charge of organising the event," Rory began more seriously.

"Yeah, I remember, since I am on the Prom Committee," Carly replied nonchalantly as she grabbed a note book from her locker and shoved it into her backpack.

"Right. Well, since you, Sam and Frankie-"

"Freddie," Carly corrected coolly, wondering why she felt so irritated all of a sudden.

"Whatever. Since you guys do iCarly, I was wondering if you could mention Ridgeway's Senior Prom on one of your weekly episodes. Just mentioning it in passing would be cool," Rory continued quickly.

"Ok, but why would you want us to mention the Senior Prom on iCarly?" Carly asked curiously after shutting her locker with a loud bang.

"Senior Prom is cool and so is iCarly. Oh, and if you could mention the fact that we still need a DJ to play at the dance, that would be great. Ms Briggs fired DJ Slim because he didn't have any tracks with bag pipes on them," Rory explained disbelievingly.

"Of course she did," Carly quipped dryly with a subtle eye-roll.

Why Principal Franklin had allowed Ms. Briggs to oversee Prom this year was a mystery to everyone. Carly's guess was that Ted might have had one too many Red Bulls during the usual faculty meetings.

"I'll see what I can do, Rory," Carly replied stoically.

"Excellent. You're a life-saver, Carly." Rory praised brightly.

Carly couldn't understand why she felt so uncomfortable around the burly senior. Perhaps it was the way that his eyes seemed to travel around her whole body, lingering just a little too long on her chest area to make her feel like she was being X-rayed. Even though Rory had been polite to her in the past, she vaguely recollected something disparaging that Wendy had once told her about the football captain, but she couldn't pinpoint exactly what she was trying to remember.

Freddie was watching the exchange from a few feet away, a grim expression on his face. He had stopped short when he saw Rory approach Carly while she retrieved her books from her locker, a broad smile on his handsome face. Freddie had never liked Rory Blake; the guy put way too much stock in his good lucks and his ability to score a touchdown to actually possess a brain.

Gibby came skidding down the hallway towards Freddie with his backpack swinging on his shoulders, having successfully evaded Sam. He came to stand next to Freddie, who had a pensive expression on his face.

"Hey, Freddie. Where have you been all morning? Do you have those 'Galaxy Wars' episodes for me?" Gibby asked impatiently.

"I'm a little busy right now, Gibby," Freddie replied distractedly, staring straight ahead of him and not looking at his friend.

Gibby glanced around the tiny hallway and then back at Freddie, who hadn't moved a muscle.

"But you're just standing in the middle of the hallway watching Carly," Gibby pointed out sardonically.

"Exactly," Freddie agreed seriously.

"Am I missing something here?" Gibby asked dumbly.

"Carly said she was too busy to talk to me before class, and here she is, talking non-stop to Rory Blake." Freddie declared scathingly.

"Freddie, you don't really need me to clue you in on the laws of high school, right?" Gibby asked patronisingly.

"No offence, but shouldn't you be used to Carly blowing you off for good-looking guys by now?" Gibby asked knowingly.

"How am I not supposed to be offended by that, Gibby?" Freddie demanded waspishly, rounding defensively on Gibby for a split second.

"Besides, it's different this time," he added sombrely, turning to look at Carly and Rory again.

"What do you mean? What's going on?" Gibby asked in concern, trying to gauge his friend's expression.

"I'm not sure, Gib. But I'm gonna find out one way or the other," Freddie promised with an ominous glint in his eye.

"Well…I'd better get to class," Carly announced abruptly, a sudden desire to flee at the forefront of her mind.

Carly gave a start when Rory's hand shot out like lightning against her locker, successfully blocking her path.

"What's your hurry, sweetheart?" Rory asked in what was supposed to be a suave tone.

"I'm gonna be late, Rory." Carly mumbled in a small voice.

"You're Carly Shay: you can afford to be a little late. Stay and talk to me for a few more minutes," Rory implored in a low voice.

Carly was shocked when Rory began running his hand up and down her arm. She was having a difficult time trying to stay composed when all she wanted to do was run like crazy. What was going on? Why was she suddenly so afraid?

"What the hell…?" Freddie asked in alarm, watching as the scene changed abruptly.

He could sense Carly's innate discomfort more than he could see her outward struggle to get away from Rory.

"He's got his hands all over Carly," Freddie hissed angrily.

Gibby didn't like the look in Freddie's eye one bit.

That look meant trouble.

"Freddie, what are you gonna do, man?" Gibby asked anxiously.

"I'm gonna set him straight." Freddie declared without hesitation.

"Is that a good idea? Rory's at least three heads taller and has way more muscles than you do." Gibby protested weakly.

"I can take him," Freddie promised ominously and began walking away.

"Freddie! Don't do it, man! Oh, boy…" Gibby trailed off helplessly, watching Freddie's progress down the hallway.

"I can't, Rory." Carly pleaded hoarsely.

"Hey, why so serious? You need to loosen up, Carly. I can show you how," Rory chided softly.

Now Carly remembered what Wendy had told her about Rory with sudden nausea. The football captain had grabbed her ass at a party not too long ago and tried to get her to come upstairs with him into someone's bedroom so that they could be alone. He had a reputation for collecting high school girls and adding them to the notches on his belt.

The younger, the better.

Carly had never wanted to run more than in this particular moment. But she was prevented from doing so when Rory wrapped both arms tightly around her lithe body. A thrill of terror shot down her spine at the feel of his finger trailing down her cheek, making her instantly recoil.

"Let go of me, Rory." Carly begged more forcefully, shuddering from his tight grip on her.

"You really need to relax," Rory implored in a deathly low voice, his hot breath fanning her cheeks.

"Let her go, Rory."

Both Carly and Rory whipped around at the sound of his voice. Freddie stood a few inches away from them, his hands balled into fists at his sides and a fierce look in his eye. Rory's grip loosened on Carly and she managed to push his arms off of her and gain some distance. She wasn't even aware that she had approached Freddie until she was standing right beside him.

"Freddie, let's just go," she hissed in a low murmur.

"In a minute," Freddie replied venomously, not taking his eyes off of Rory.

"And what do you think's gonna happen in a minute, dork?" Rory demanded tauntingly, taking a few steps closer towards Freddie.

"First off, I'm gonna educate you on how not to man-handle a girl, Rory." Freddie declared evenly.

Rory hooted with mirthful laughter. Then he stopped abruptly and fixed Freddie with a menacing look in his eye, one he usually reserved for his opponents on the football field.

"Big talk for someone who hides behind a camera lens every single week, Benson." He retorted callously.

"Carly, get to class," Freddie ordered tersely with a jerk of his neck to stare momentarily at her.

"I'm not leaving you here alone with Rory," Carly shot back in an undertone.

"Yeah, Benson, Carly's not going anywhere; we were in the middle of a chat before you interrupted. So do everyone a favour right now and walk away right now before I do some serious damage to that tiny head of yours." Rory commanded severely, making a show of flexing his knuckles.

A crowd was beginning to gather on the stairwell off to the right and along the hallway, wondering what was about to happen. On any other occasion, Freddie would've taken that as his cue to leave and take Carly with him. He'd seen what Rory had done to guys half his size when they crossed him.

He knew that Rory meant business.

But for some reason or another, he was rooted to the spot, heat flooding his veins and his face. He ran his tongue reflexively over his two front teeth, tasting the mounting tension in the hallway.

He wasn't about to walk away, not this time.

"I'm not going anywhere, Rory." Freddie stated seriously, his hands pulsing like live wires at his sides.

"Are you challenging me, Benson?" Rory asked in a dangerously quiet voice, recognising that all-too-familiar look of defiance in the younger boy's eyes.

"Maybe I am," Freddie retorted, his eyes boring into the older boy's.

"Freddie, don't…" Carly pleaded painstakingly, trying to grab at his arm.

"Yeah, Freddie, don't do it. You've seen what I do to guys who cross me," Rory answered menacingly.

"You don't scare me, Rory. I'm not leaving until you apologise to Carly." Freddie declared slowly.

He said the words nonchalantly, but Freddie was seething inwardly, like a volcano about to erupt. What was happening? Why did he have a maddening desire to pummel Rory Blake into oblivion? He could feel the blood pumping through his veins, colouring every inch of his body until he literally saw red through the edges of his eyes.

"And just who's gonna make me, Benson? You?" Rory asked with a sneering smirk, stepping closer till he was right in front of Freddie, bearing down on him.

"If I have to. Don't push me, Rory." Freddie warned in a cold tone.

Without warning, Rory moved closer to Carly, his hand resting on her shoulder in a possessive manner. Carly stiffened instantly at his touch. Freddie's jaw flexed automatically and his Adam's apple throbbed rapidly while he tried to keep his composure.

"Well, guess what, Benson? You don't scare me either," Rory scoffed openly.

"Touch her again, and I'll kill you," Freddie seethed matter-of-factly.

Rory rolled his eyes abrasively in Freddie's direction and tightened his grip on Carly's shoulder. Freddie disappeared from where he stood and reappeared behind Rory in a swirling blur of colours and cool air. His hands closed reflexively on the backs of Rory's shoulders and pulled him away from Carly. Then he whirled Rory around to face him, the burly football captain like a limp rag doll in his powerful hands.

What happened next would've been comical if not for its absurdly disturbing detachment from reality. Freddie had hoisted Rory up into the air, one hand closing around the senior's throat in a death grip. As the stagnant seconds slurred by, Rory tried to get out of Freddie's steely grasp with little to no effect. With a casual stance, Freddie lazily slapped away Rory's beefy hand away while the former tried to get out of his deathly grip, his feet dangling a few feet off the ground like he was being lynched.

Rory's face was steadily turning purple, his eyes popping slightly while they watered like crazy. Before Rory could pass out by the lack of oxygen entering his throat, Freddie used both of his hands to grip at the collar on the football captain's Letterman jacket, the red of the fabric reminiscent to that of the colour of dried blood. Then with an abrupt rush of air, Freddie let go of him and tossed him backwards, like he didn't weigh a thing.

Rory sailed through the air, his back curved like that of a foetus in its mother's womb. He made a distance of at least 5 feet all the way across the hallway and slammed head-first into a row of lockers perpendicular to the stairwell. And then he sank onto the floor on his stomach in a crumpled heap, his arms stretched out beside him at an odd angle, his body completely still.

For a second or two, the whole world seemed to freeze in space and time. And then abruptly, the sound came back, pounding intrusively in Freddie's ears as screams were emitted and footsteps pounded all around him. A crowd was beginning to gather around Rory Blake, who still wasn't moving. Freddie's erratic breathing sounded in his ears and he stared down at his hands in horror, as if they had expanded to ten times their original size. Then he whipped around on the balls of his feet and faced Carly, whose eyes were drawn to the scene behind him.

Then her brown eyes locked on Freddie and she stepped forward tentatively, her pale skin looking almost translucent under the fluorescent lighting overhead.

"Freddie…" she began softly.

"Don't touch me!" Freddie yelled in revulsion, his brown eyes bulging in their sockets.

Carly's eyes widened to the size of saucers when Freddie abruptly turned on his heels and began sprinting like crazy away from her down the crowded hallway, multitudes of eyes following him.

Freddie's panting was the only thing he could focus on as he sprinted past surprised onlookers towards the back entrance of Ridgeway which he, Sam and Carly used every single morning when they came to school.

He had to get out of here.

He had to get away from what he'd just done.

Freddie finally made it outside and bent over clutching his knees, breathing in the sweet smell of fresh air coursing all around him. It helped to assuage some of the nausea he felt at the sight of Rory's crumpled form on the ground, the dent in the locker which he had crashed into hollowed out with metallic incongruity.

The incident had only lasted for several seconds. But for Freddie, it had felt like an hour while he'd been holding Rory up in the air by the scruff his collar, trying to choke the life out of him with relish. The thought made Freddie want to puke all over the sidewalk.

Just then, the sound of a revving engine pounded in his ears. Freddie looked up and saw a man in his late twenties sitting on a motorcycle not too far from him. The man simply sat perfectly at ease on the leather seat of what looked like a vintage Harley, the exterior sleek and smooth like a panther stalking its prey, the black paint gleaming against the cloud cover overhead. Freddie noted that the man was dressed in black from head to toe: black leather jacket, black T-shirt, black jeans and black combat boots. Even his wavy hair was black. The eyes were the only contrast, like pale blue chips of crystallised ice.

"Need a ride, Freddie Benson?" the young man asked in a winning tone.

Freddie had no idea how this stranger knew his name, but a part of him surmised that his sudden appearance wasn't a coincidence. He made up his mind in an instant when he saw Carly running towards him. He couldn't stay at school another second longer.

"Freddie!" Carly called out, pushing her legs forward as she tried to reach him.

Freddie turned his back on Carly and jogged towards the motorcycle. The stranger started up the engine once more and Freddie hopped on the back.

"Where we heading?" the stranger questioned curiously.

"Anywhere but here," Freddie murmured dispassionately.

The man grinned secretively to himself and put his foot down hard on the gas pedal, squeezing at the clutch on the handlebar. The bike roared to life like the shriek of a jaguar and he pulled away from the curb. Carly began sprinting like crazy when she realised what Freddie was about to do.

"FREDDIE!" she yelled excitably.

Freddie looked away and held on tightly to the stranger in front of him and they sped off down the street without a backwards glance. Carly watched him go with a sinking pit of despair deep in her chest.

It had been difficult to tell at first glance, but more reflection told Carly that the stranger on the motorcycle was Michael. Why did he come to the school? Had he been looking for her? Or did he specifically come for Freddie?

Carly was sure that in-between the time that Freddie had spent recovering from his concussion, he couldn't have possibly met Michael. But she was beginning to doubt herself. Michael had found a way to leave flowers for Freddie at the hospital; surely he could've found a way to meet Freddie in private if he'd wanted to. But why had Freddie gone with him now? Where were they going?

Carly's head was spinning from the force of what had just transpired inside and outside of the school. Her emotions were screaming so loudly in her ears that she didn't even hear Sam come jogging out of the school after her.

"Was that Freddie I just saw?" Sam queried curiously, clutching a stitch in her side while she spoke.

"Yeah," Carly answered numbly, her eyes still trained on the road up ahead.

"What is that nub up to now? I always knew he was out of his mind, but this is some really strange chizz," Sam noted lightly while flicking something off of her finger nails.

"You have no idea, Sam." Carly noted solemnly, a lone tear cascading down her cheek, which she wiped away at hastily.

"He's been acting weird ever since that accident on the stairs at your place. Or maybe he just likes getting on the back of motorbikes with random guys. I always figured that was more of Spencer's thing, since he's always been 'questionable'," Sam continued nonchalantly with air-quotes.

Something snapped inside of Carly and she rounded on Sam with sudden speed that caught her best friend off guard.

"Do you think this is funny, Sam? Freddie just left the school with some random guy and we don't even know where he went!" Carly shrieked indignantly.

"Geez, calm down, Carly! Dorkward probably knows the guy; I'm sure he'll be back home before his mom even realises that he skipped class." Sam chided casually.

"You don't get it, do you, Sam? He shouldn't be going off anywhere, and not just with anyone either. Freddie's just recovered from a serious head injury, one that _you_ caused." Carly snapped furiously.

"You're blaming me for what happened on the stairs a week ago?" Sam asked in alarm.

"Yes, I blame you! It's always you, Sam. Whether it's Freddie or anyone in general who annoys you, you just can't let it go. You never think about the consequences of your actions, you just act on your bare instincts. You don't care who gets hurts in the process, just as long as you get your way. You could've killed Freddie, does that even register with you?" Carly asked coldly.

"Carly-"

"This is all your fault, Sam. So do me a favour and just man up for once in your life, if that's not too difficult."

"Carly!"

"Leave me alone, Sam." Carly snapped angrily.

Then she took a leaf out of Freddie's book and began sprinting away from school, tears running down her face till they were blinding her. She left Sam standing alone on the curb, a perturbed expression on her face while she pondered on what had just transpired between her and her two best friends.

* * *

**Author's Note: Whoo, can you believe this all happened in one scene? I hope some of you are pleased that Carly finally gave it to Sam (well, sort of) - hopefully Carly gets some sympathy points back for that ;) I hope Freddie hopping onto the back of some strange guy's motorcyle isn't too ultra-gay, I have my reasons for putting that in here. I'm off to take a nap now whilst listening to some tracks by Adele (what a voice!) before my dosage of Friday evening soap operas. Cheers!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: Hello, fellow iCarly fans!I hope you're all having a great week. Mine's been alright, certainly not boring as far as my 'online exploits' go ;) I've been watching a few season 1 iCarly episodes lately like 'iWin A Date' (a favourite of mine) and reminiscing about the good old days before that treacherous shipping war began, alas. I hope you all enjoy this new update, cheerio :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly or its characters. Just my own special ideas and methods of conveying them.  
**

* * *

"Watch where you're going! Ny-aangth! Now I gotta mop the fl-oor again!" Lewbert complained in a loud and pointed drawl.

Carly ignored him completely and jogged past him towards the elevators that would take her up to her home. After ditching Sam outside school, she had sprinted away for another few feet before hailing a cab and coming back to Kennedy Square. Then she had walked for the remaining 5 blocks before reaching the lobby of Bushwell Plaza and the familiarity of Lewbert's crass behaviour.

Not that she cared in the least.

There were far more pressing things on her mind at this particular moment. And all of it involved the fight she'd just had with Sam, her escape from a sordid situation involving Rory Blake, captain of the football team; said football captain getting thrown headlong into a pile of lockers and Freddie running off with Michael, which was at the forefront of her chaotic thoughts.

For the hundredth time, Carly wondered where the two of them had gone. She hadn't even bothered to knock on the Benson's apartment next door, knowing full well that Freddie wouldn't be there. Seattle was a big city; there were a million places where Freddie could be right now.

Why had Michael shown up at the school? Had it been his plan all along to get Freddie alone to talk to him? Did he just want to talk to Freddie or did he have something more sinister planned for him?

With a guilty squirm in the pit of her stomach, Carly thought back to Rory Blake's still body lying on the cold floor next to the lockers. She wondered if he was going to be ok, or whether Freddie had actually killed him. Carly didn't want to believe that Freddie was capable of harming anyone, much less the captain of the football team. But amidst the confusing disarray of her mind's eye, Carly had caught a glimpse of Freddie's hands on Rory's throat, holding him up in the air like he was made out of paper before tossing him into the lockers. She hoped that someone had called 911 after she'd left and tended to Rory before any more disastrous things could ensue.

She would've scarcely believed it had happened had she not done something similar to both Freddie and Sam on the stairwell of her home the previous week. It already seemed like a lifetime ago. Even though it had happened so quickly, Carly had seen enough to know that Freddie was responsible for causing Rory's accident. But she wondered grimly if anyone else had noticed too.

How had things changed so drastically?

The pulsing anger she had felt towards Sam had faded by now, only to be replaced with guilty weariness. She hadn't meant to go off on her like that, but maybe it was better for Sam to finally know the truth, or at least part of it now. She could feel a migraine forming on her forehead from information overload and she wanted to scream from frustration. Everything was spinning out of control in her life and she needed it to stop for one moment so that she could catch her breath.

"Carly?"

Carly whipped around on the balls of her feet, not realising that she wasn't alone in her apartment, her heart in her throat. Her breathing finally returned to normal when she realised that it was just Spencer coming out of his bedroom carrying an easel with a puzzled expression on his face.

"How did you get back here?" Spencer questioned in surprise.

"I uh…took a cab." Carly offered weakly with a gesture of her hand.

"What are you doing home? Don't you have class?" he asked, bewildered by her sudden appearance.

"Are you sick?" Spencer queried in alarm, noticing for the first time just how pale his kid sister's face looked.

He rested the easel haphazardly against the kitchen counter and came to Carly's side. Before Carly could stop him, he had placed one of his big hands on her forehead before touching her cheek.

"You don't seem to be running a fever or anything," he murmured more to himself.

"Spencer, I'm fine. I just had to get away from school for a little while…" Carly explained in a shockingly calm voice.

Spencer wasn't slow in noticing how sluggishly Carly moved towards the sofa in the living room and plonked herself down onto it with a fatigued countenance.

"What do you mean? What happened?" he demanded anxiously, coming to sit down next to her.

"Freddie got into a fight at school because of me," Carly responded tiredly.

The words were tumbling out of her mouth like a ravine before she had time to censor them appropriately. But it was too late to take it back now. And Carly was so tired of keeping everything to herself.

"With who?" Spencer asked in bewilderment.

"Rory Blake," Carly replied softly.

"Rory Blake? Wait, isn't he the captain of the football team? Really handsome kid with muscles everywhere?" Spencer questioned in confusion.

"The very same," Carly offered sardonically.

"Why did Freddie get into a fight with him over you? Is Rory your new boyfriend?" Spencer asked somewhat lightly in an attempt to get Carly laughing and talking more.

Carly looked to her left and stared at Spencer in astonishment.

"N-o! Rory is so not my boyfriend. He tried to make a pass at me and Freddie intervened." Carly retorted heatedly.

Spencer's goofy grin vanished while he looked more closely at his sister.

"This Rory guy made a pass at you? You mean he…touched you inappropriately?" he asked in muted horror.

"Kind of. He didn't grab my chest area or anything. But he freaked me out by blocking my way, grabbing my arm and touching my face and stuff." Carly mumbled uncomfortably.

Spencer's jaw began to stiffen with suppressed rage and Carly suddenly wished that she hadn't told her older brother about any of this. She'd never seen him so angry before, like he might do some serious damage to anyone who crossed his path in the next few minutes. Carly became even more alarmed when Spencer got to his feet and grabbed his favourite leather jacket from the coat stand near the front door.

"Spencer, what are you doing?" Carly demanded in astonishment.

"I'm gonna go down to the school and give that punk a taste of his own medicine. Principal Franklin's gonna hear about this," Spencer fumed indignantly.

"Rory's not at school, Spencer. He's probably at the hospital right now. That's if somebody called 911 right after it happened," Carly responded rapidly.

Spencer stopped in his tracks and came to stand next to the sofa again, his eyes wide with surprise.

"What do you mean the hospital? Carly, what exactly happened when he and Freddie got into an argument over you?" Spencer demanded impatiently, his dark eyes boring into Carly's.

"Not an argument, Spencer, a fight. They got into a physical fight over me. Freddie told him to back off, but Rory wouldn't listen. And then Freddie…" Carly trailed off unexpectedly, unable to say the words.

"What did Freddie do, Carly?" Spencer asked in a hushed voice.

"Freddie grabbed him and…pushed him into a pile of lockers. Rory was either knocked unconscious or…worse. The point is, he wasn't moving when I left the school." Carly concluded morosely, several tears leaking from her eyes, which she wiped at hastily.

Spencer sat back down his spot on the sofa once more, feeling like the wind had been knocked right out of his sails.

"Is Freddie ok?" he asked quietly.

Carly nodded vigorously before answering.

"I think so," she answered rapidly.

"Where is he now?"

"I don't know, Spencer. After Rory fell on the floor, Freddie took off and left the school. I tried to follow him, but…" Carly replied miserably, a fresh batch of tears ensuing.

Spencer nodded soberly as if in silent confirmation of something he'd known all along before turning to face Carly again.

"Maybe you should start from the beginning…" he suggested soberly.

* * *

"Why are we here?" Freddie asked dumbly.

He was standing in the middle of the Japanese Garden in the Washington Park Arboretum. After the bout of rain showers that the city had experienced in recent weeks, the trees and the alien plants surrounding the park benches were a delightful shade of emerald green, making all the remaining colours seem dull in comparison.

"I thought you could use the opportunity to channel your Zen and inner chi, Rambo," Michael replied comically.

Freddie whipped around and faced the stranger who'd given him a ride here. The man in question was seated comfortably on a wooden park bench, one boot-clad foot crossed over his lap, his arm resting leisurely on the arm-rest beside him, looking for all the world like he didn't have a single care. And he was grinning pointedly at Freddie, like he expected the former to share in an inside joke.

"Ok, seriously. Who are you?" Freddie demanded impatiently.

"You didn't seem that concerned about my identity when I gave you a ride here," Michael replied in a nonplussed tone.

"Well, I care about it now," Freddie responded, a growing sense of irritation creeping over him.

Freddie couldn't understand why he suddenly felt so uneasy. Was it simply because he had just hitched a ride with a complete stranger, something his mother had always warned him against?

But it was more than that. There was nothing in this stranger's outward appearance that made him look threatening in the least. And yet, Freddie could sense the enigmatic waves of possible danger literally wafting off of the man, like he was radioactive.

"How come? Is it getting too hot in the kitchen for ya?" Michael asked with positive relish evident in his voice.

"What are you talking about?" Freddie questioned heatedly.

"You know, back at school. I can understand why you'd wanna get out of there as fast as you can. You just killed somebody – that doesn't look so hot on your transcript." Michael retorted snidely.

A chill went down Freddie's spine while he imagined what was going on at Ridgeway. He envisioned the paramedics entering the school, carrying Rory's lifeless body on a stretcher, covered by a black body bag, crowds of students and faculty members crowded together, weeping and shaking their heads apprehensively.

He suddenly wished that he hadn't been so rash in leaving Carly by herself to deal with the inevitable questions that would follow. After all, she had been standing right next to him when he grabbed hold of Rory and sent him into a row of lockers. Even if the slowed-down action had been invisible to the untrained eye, there was a good chance that Carly might've seen what had really happened in the space of about 5 seconds. But he couldn't explain how he instinctively knew this was true.

Freddie turned to face the stranger who'd given him a ride, who in turn was regarding him with an unfathomable expression on his handsome face.

"How could you possibly know what happened? You were outside the entire time!" Freddie spluttered haphazardly.

"Guess again, Freddy-o. I have a little more insight into what's going on than you, trust me on that." Michael responded evenly, getting to his feet.

"I didn't kill Rory – I…I couldn't have," Freddie mumbled incoherently while clutching at his hair, trying to wrap his head around the entire affair.

"You never know, Freddie. I guess you just don't know your own strength sometimes," Michael put in helpfully with a sly grin on his face.

Freddie stopped clutching his hair and gazed at the stranger with new eyes. Something disturbing had just occurred at Ridgeway and this nameless man was enjoying every ounce of it. A white fire boiled deep within Freddie and he regarded the stranger with a cold and calculating look.

"Who are you?" he asked in a low voice.

"Just a curious observer and apparently, the guy who just stopped you from facing a lot of awkward questions back at school. Gratitude's not really your strong point by the way," Michael offered facetiously.

"I didn't mean to hurt Rory! It was an accident! I just got so angry when he had his hands all over Carly that I-"

"You what? Succumbed to a fit of jealous rage when 'The Terminator' made a pass at _your girl_? Isn't that what it boils down to, Freddie? You can't have Carly, so no one else can?" Michael prodded mercilessly.

"Shut up," Freddie implored in a shaky voice.

"It must be hard to see Carly move on time and time again to the next good-looking guy with no brains. Like Jake, Shane, Griffin, Adam...Cort. It must really burn you up when she won't even give you the time of the day. You're the total package…" Michael trailed off callously, beginning to circle around Freddie while he spoke.

"I said shut up," Freddie hissed through gritted teeth.

He was swallowing down bile, feeling the vestiges of his self-restraint slowly ebbing away. What was happening to him? Why did he feel like he was seconds away from turning into the Incredible Hulk? He could feel that familiar tingle swirling through his fingers right through his hands. The last time he'd felt it with such intensity before his altercation with Rory was when he had kissed Carly the night before. But that had been a pleasurable surge which had shot through his entire body when he had held her in his arms. This felt innately different, like the difference between a sneeze and coughing up your internal organs.

"Don't feel bad about it, Freddie. Rory was being an ass to the one girl you've ever loved in your entire life; you were just defending her honour. But can you really blame Carly? She's always been the kind of girl that attracts attention, both positive and negative. She really is something to look at though, isn't she? Long brown hair, beautiful eyes, pouty lips you could kiss all day. Perfect body-"

Freddie didn't remember how he had got into position. But a split second later, he had Michael around the scruff of his neck, his hands cutting off his circulation while he held him several inches off of the ground.

"I told you to shut up!" Freddie bellowed furiously, his eyes bulging with unrepressed rage.

Michael had made no move to stop Freddie or shrug him off, even though he could've done either one in a heartbeat. Freddie's eyes, which had been bulging with rage, finally contracted to their normal size, his pupils now passively malignant and contained. With a gasp of shock, Freddie remembered where he was and gingerly put Michael back down on the ground, his hands feeling like tons of steel at his sides. He thanked his lucky stars that no one in the park had just seen what he did. Freddie gazed guiltily at Michael, who to his intense surprise, was grinning widely back at him, as if Freddie hadn't just tried to strangle him.

"Not too shabby, Fredward," Michael noted with unmistakable pleasure evident in his tone.

Freddie sank down onto the wooden bench in an exhausted heap, staring in awe at his hands.

"I can't believe I just did that…again." He marvelled in alarm.

"I can. And it all has to do with that wonderful connection that you and Carly have developed over time. The two of you have really…_bonded_." Michael offered in an eerily calm voice.

Freddie stopped looking at his hands and stared at Michael in amazement, remembering Carly's own words on the subject:

"_You and I, we've always been close, the best of friends. But then we bonded and now everything's changed…" _

Everything had changed and nothing would be ever be ok again. Those had been Carly's words too while they had been talking on the fire escape the night before. Something had irrevocably changed between the two of them and Carly couldn't even look Freddie in the eyes properly these days. Something which she felt guilty about, something she felt responsible about causing…

"Something else happened on the stairwell that day, something that neither Carly nor I can explain…" Freddie murmured without thinking twice about it.

"Nicely done, Freddie. You came to that conclusion a lot quicker than Carly did when I first spoke to her." Michael praised lightly.

"You spoke to Carly?" Freddie asked in awe, rounding on Michael once more as he got to his feet again.

Michael said nothing in response, but continued watching Freddie with idle curiosity reflecting in his pale blue eyes.

"_Who are you?" _ Freddie asked a second time, a note of warning evident in his tone.

"My name is Michael and I'm what you might call a guardian of sorts." Michael offered succinctly.

The name registered somewhere deep inside of Freddie's mind. Why was it so familiar and where had he heard it recently. Then his mind's eye took him to the waiting area of a bland hospital where a nurse sat at her station with a bouquet in her hand.

"_These came for you a few hours ago, Freddie. Aren't they just beautiful? They're from your friend, Michael. He said to tell you to get well soon and hopes that everything will return to 'almost' normal for you…." Nurse Cooper explained with jocular laughter. _

"You sent me flowers while I was in the hospital," Freddie surmised while staring pensively at Michael's face.

"Just wanted you to know I was thinking of you," Michael replied, feigning a genial tone.

"It's because of you, isn't it? The reason why Carly hasn't been herself lately? You did something to her, didn't you?" Freddie demanded in an accusing tone, his emotions at the fringes once more.

"I didn't do anything to Carly. But I did try to explain to her exactly what's happened to the two of you since the accident. You'd think that Carly would've passed the message onto you by now," Michael responded facetiously while shaking his head comically.

"And just what message might that be? What exactly happened to the two of us on the Shay's stairwell that day…_Michael?_" Freddie questioned seriously, getting sick of the charade.

Michael studied Freddie's face momentarily, a long finger tapping abstractly at his chin before answering.

"It's difficult to say. But what I can surmise is this: Sam pushed you down the stairs and Carly tried to intervene." Michael began solemnly.

"I already know that. She tried to tell me and Sam to stop bickering-"

"I'm not talking about _that_ intervention, Freddie. I mean that she literally tried to stop you from falling down the stairs."

"But that's impossible. All three of us fell down the stairs, hit the floor and were rendered unconscious. That's what Spencer told us afterwards"

"That's why Carly's intervention failed ultimately. But she did tweak certain things about how the three of you fell. Can you guess what she might've done?"

"I'm not gonna play guessing games with you, Michael. I want the truth about what happened that day and I want it right now."

"Always so pushy, you must get that from Mommy Dearest. Alright, I'll bite: did you hear anything about what the paramedics said about the incident in passing? Something specifically to do with the position of your bodies after Spencer found all three of you sprawled out on the floor?" Michael prodded seriously.

"There was something. When Spencer came to see me at the hospital, he told me that…the paramedic who checked Sam said the position of her body on the floor was all wrong in conjunction with her original position on the stairwell, according to Carly's original statement to the police when they questioned her at the hospital before…Dr. Bernstein saw to her." Freddie explained rapidly.

"Very good. And do you know why that is? Because if both you and Sam had fallen without any interruption, she would've hit the sofa and you would've hit Spencer's sculpture. But instead, _Sam hit the sculpture and you hit the sofa_. Carly was in the middle of both of you the entire time, Freddie." Michael stated in an irritatingly matter-of-fact way.

"What are you getting at? Are you saying that Carly somehow_switched_ mine and Sam's bodies in mid-air and _magically_ made Sam hit the sculpture and me hit the couch instead?" Freddie spluttered disbelievingly with wild gestures of his hands.

"That's exactly what I'm saying, Freddie." Michael replied soberly.

"And why would Carly do something like that? _How could she possibly do something like that?"_ Freddie demanded incredulously.

"I think you already know the 'why', Freddie. As for the 'how', that's the easy part. While you seem to go all 'Incredible Hulk' on jerks like Rory Blake, Carly's powers seem to be a little more subtle and a little less precise," Michael responded seriously.

"But why is this happening now?"

"It's been a long time in the making, Freddie. All because you and Carly have 'bonded'."

Freddie stared at Michael for a good long minute, trying to decipher what the latter had just said to him.

"You keep saying that. What do you mean we…'bonded'?" Freddie questioned dumbly with air-quotes.

Michael rolled his eyes pointedly at the sky before facing Freddie once more.

"Even Carly took a shorter time figuring out what that means, Freddie." He retorted callously.

"You mean Carly and I have some kind of mutual 'mind-meld'?" Freddie persisted rapidly.

"Not really. You can't bond through your minds, like being able to access each other's thoughts. It's more of a sense of what the other's thinking and feeling, like when you sensed Carly's discomfort as Rory tried to grab her. That mode of wanting to protect each other goes both ways; you used it on Rory and Carly used it on both you and Sam when she pushed Sam out of the way, causing her to hit Spencer's sculpture instead of it being you." Michael explained casually.

"But wait…Carly tried to push me out of the way _after we fell?_ If that's what she tried to do, why didn't it work? No offence, but I still ended up hitting my head against the back of a sofa." Freddie pointed out sardonically.

"Not everyone can channel their powers as well as you. Just ask Rory," Michael quipped cleverly with a sly wink.

"Carly and I have powers now? All because she tried to stop me from falling down a flight of stairs?" Freddie questioned in awe.

"Not quite, it's a little more complicated than that, Freddie." Michael responded seriously.

"How complicated?" Freddie asked, matching his tone.

"You're in love with Carly, aren't you, Freddie?"

Freddie coloured instantly at the question, blushing profusely while he tried to chase away the warmth from his face.

"Yeah, I am. But what does that have to do with anything?" he asked softly.

Michael moved closer and towered over Freddie, till the latter began to feel really uncomfortable.

"It's got everything to do with the 'bond' between you and Carly, Freddie. It's set certain things in motion from day one when the two of you met, especially the day that you jumped in front of a taco truck to save her life. Carly could've died that day, but she didn't. Because of you – because you're in love with her. That kind of act leaves a mark. And Carly's beginning to figure that out too since she tried to do the same thing on the stairwell last week." Michael replied evenly.

It took Freddie more than a moment before the last part of Michael's statement sunk in.

"Wait…are you saying that…Carly's in love with me?" Freddie asked, completely flabbergasted by the thought.

"Well…I think that Carly will probably be able to answer that question for you better than I can," Michael responded mysteriously.

"And where do you fit into all of this?" Freddie demanded pointedly, fixing the enigmatic stranger with a penetrating gaze.

"I told you. I'm a guardian, a messenger if you will. I'm here to give you certain information to help you and Carly better understand what comes next."

"And what exactly does come next?" Freddie asked in a weary tone.

Michael smiled briefly before he began pacing methodically around Freddie in a perfect circle, his boots making soft indentations in the freshly-mown grass beneath his feet.

"We can't always know what the future holds. But sometimes, I find that it's best to retrace your own steps…take a walk down Memory Lane, if you will. In instances like these, you'll find that history often repeats itself, especially with a bond like yours and Carly's." Michael replied in a cryptic tone.

"I don't understand," Freddie answered feebly, feeling like his head was going to explode from information overload.

"Of course you don't. But you will very soon, especially after I show you something belonging to someone in your family. Take my arm, Freddie. The sensation will be a little jarring at first." Michael commanded seriously, standing in front of Freddie again.

"Jarring? What do you mean-"

But Freddie didn't have time to complete his sentence when Michael did the honours and placed his hand on his leather-clad arm. Freddie only had another moment to tighten his grip till his fingernails dugs into the soft fabric of Michael's jacket when he felt his entire body reverberating like crazy. Everything became blurry around the two of them, including the colours of their clothes till they matched that of their verdant surroundings, making Freddie want to puke on the spot. And then he and Michael disappeared in a flash, shooting forward in a haze of swirling black.

* * *

**Author's Note: I hope this was eventful for all of you, especially Freddie and Michael's conversation. I tried to make it differ from Michael's initial conversation with Carly in chapters 3 and 4. Carly and Spencer's conversation at the start will open up into further discussion next chapter as a small aside (I think, hee hee). Thanks to a few extra reviews during the week, I'm just a few votes away from hitting the 100th mark! Thanks for making it happen to all of you out there, you've all been far too kind :D Now I'm off to grab some dinner and catch my favourite local soap opera, I hope you all have a great weekend. Cheers!  
**


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: Hey, everybody! I hope you've all had a great week. I'm just glad it's Friday and it's a beautiful and sultry day so far :D So a little bird told me that there's a new iCarly episode being aired this weekend - that's good, right? I won't watch it at the same time as all you lucky people, but I'll get to it soon enough. A special warning to all reading: this is a super long-ass chapter, so make sure you've eaten food and drunken sufficient fluids beforehand ;D A big thanks to sockstar for proof-reading this beforehand and giving me some helpful grammatical tips, you rock :D Hope you all enjoy this. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly or the characters - just the plot line (co-ownership with Carl Rahl) and elements of the supernatural used in this story.  
**

* * *

"What are we doing in my Mom's bedroom?" Freddie demanded quizzically, slight revulsion evident in his tone.

Of all the places he imagined Michael would take him to, this was the last place he had expected. Knowing that they had used what seemed to be awesome powers of travel and teleportation just to end up back at his own apartment in Bushwell Plaza was a bit of a disappointment for Freddie.

"So glad you asked, Fredward. We are here to find an important item of historical value to your family." Michael declared boisterously, his hand sweeping across the bedroom in a grand gesture.

"In my Mom's bedroom?" Freddie questioned in bewilderment, his eyes reluctantly following Michael's gesture.

Michael began chuckling appreciatively at something Freddie didn't understand until he uttered his next words:

"No. It's in your Mom's underwear drawer. A drawer for her drawers," Michael responded, laughing at his own joke.

Freddie swallowed down bile in his throat at this. Other boys may have had some morbid curiosity about rifling through their mother's things, even going so far as to hide in their closets and try on their clothes. Freddie had no such fantasy or desire to know any of his mother's secrets. But Michael had brought him here because they were certain things that he needed to know about him and Carly 'bonding'. What did that have to do with his mother?

"Why are we really here, Michael?" Freddie asked seriously of the strange man standing next to him.

"We're here because there are some things that you need to know about the process of 'bonding'. I told Carly that sometimes a 'bonding' can be triggered by hereditary considerations too." Michael explained.

Freddie's ears pricked up at this as he gazed at Michael with a questioning look on his face.

"Hereditary considerations? You mean family members can be affected by a 'bonding' too?" he asked quietly.

"Dig deeper, Freddie. There can only be a hereditary consideration if traces of a 'bond' have been passed down to children from their parents." Michael elaborated.

"So you're telling me that mine and Carly's parents 'bonded' just like this?" Freddie asked in alarm, trying to wrap his head around this pronouncement.

"That's what we're here to find out. And the answer's in your Mom's underwear drawer." Michael replied unswervingly.

"Please tell me you're kidding. You seriously want me to sift through my Mom's underwear to figure out whether my parents bonded too?" Freddie spluttered incredulously.

Michael looked up at the ceiling and pointedly rolled his eyes before facing Freddie again.

"Wow. For a smart guy, you sure get a lot wrong," Michael noted.

"Luckily, I can fix that. Your Mom keeps her diary in her underwear drawer," he added more patiently.

"My Mom keeps a diary - this day just gets weirder by the minute," Freddie commented, clearly flabbergasted.

"Well, if you think that part's weird, then you're gonna love what she wrote down," Michael responded with relish.

"I can't do it."

"What do you mean you 'can't do it'? Just reach inside the drawer and take the diary out. It's a medium-sized book bound with soft black leather next to a pile of bikinis your Mom never uses. You can't miss it."

"I can't reach into a drawer filled with my Mom's undergarments just to read her most private thoughts. This is sick and wrong," Freddie protested heatedly.

"Fine. Then we should get out of here right now before you have an asthma attack on the spot. I just assumed that you wanted some real answers about why you and Carly have 'bonded'. Clearly, I was wrong. Let's go," Michael interjected and began walking out of the bedroom.

"Wait!" Freddie called out at the last second, halting Michael in his tracks.

Michael turned around and faced Freddie. He grinned broadly when he saw that Freddie had the diary in his hands.

"I knew you'd come around," he murmured airily.

"Let's just get this over with," Freddie muttered through gritted teeth and sat down unwillingly atop his mother's bed.

Michael relented and made himself comfortable on top of Marissa Benson's bed too while Freddie began paging awkwardly through the pages of his mother's diary.

"What exactly am I supposed to be looking for here? Most of this stuff just looks like lists of protein-based diets my Mom wants to feed me along with a detailed description of a new drug on the market that reduces tick infestations." Freddie complained.

Michael pretended to think it over while pursing a long finger under his chin and tapping the skin softly.

"Start looking at the entries dated back to a year ago, around the time of your near brush with death." He suggested.

Freddie acquiesced and began leafing through the first of the entries labelled with the date '2010'. He felt he was getting warmer when his mother had finally stopped babbling about how 'her poor baby was almost crushed by a truck' to saying things like 'that sassy brunette and her idiot brother who live next door are the reason my baby almost died'. Freddie would've dearly loved to have stopped reading right then and there; he could literally feel the waves of anger pulsing all over at his body at his mother's insistence that Carly was responsible for him diving in front of a taco truck to save her life. But he knew he had to keep reading if he ever wanted to find out the truth about was happening in the here and now.

Then his mother began referring to things that Freddie had never heard of before and in his excitement, Freddie began quoting certain phrases out loud to Michael, forgetting that he must already know everything.

"Hey, listen to what my Mom says here!"

_**I really wish Freddie would stop wasting his time on Carly Shay. It was different when they were younger and she kept insisting that she only viewed him as just a friend. I figured it was only a matter of time before 1 of 2 things happened: Freddie either moved on for good or Carly finally gave him a chance and they started dating. But I should've known the truth all along – Carly doesn't love my son, she never has. If she did, she wouldn't toy with his feelings like he was a balled-up tissue that she could just throw away any time she liked. If Carly truly loved him, she would've never let Freddie wilfully jump in front of a taco truck for her and almost kill himself in the process…**_

"Great. We've established that your Mom is a bundle of joy wrapped in layers of honey. Keep reading," Michael implored with an impatient gesture of his hand in Freddie's direction.

…_**My God. When I think back on getting that call at the hospital during my shift that my baby was hurt, I just spiralled out of control in a fear-filled bubble of panic. And when I saw him lying on the stretcher with cuts and bruises all over his body; his arm bent at a strange angle and the left leg of his jeans ripped and drenched in his own blood, I felt like dying on the spot. I couldn't think and I couldn't move; it was like I was the one lying on a stretcher half dead, not my Freddie. It should've been me that day…it should've been me that day when Jimmy grabbed my hand and stopped me from walking right into that bus…**_

"My Mom almost got hit by a bus and my Dad saved her life? When did this happen?" Freddie questioned in astonishment.

"On the first day that they met," Michael explained carefully.

"The day they met…My Mom said she almost died on the spot when she first met my Dad. I always thought she meant that she was just really attracted to Dad the first time she laid eyes on him, not that she actually almost died. Why didn't she tell me about any of this?" Freddie demanded seriously of Michael.

"Maybe at first, it was because she didn't think it mattered. I think you'll find that she changed her mind pretty soon after your accident. Keep reading," Michael suggested with another wave of his hand.

_**Something's changed between Freddie and Carly ever since the accident. She even kissed him, which surprised me even more. And then they were back to being friends again. The only explanation I ever got from Freddie for their sudden break-up was some nonsense about 'foreign bacon'. Freddie may not say it anymore, but he still loves Carly. It's the way he looks at her and sticks close to her no matter what. Jimmy was the same way with me; I used to laugh at him for being so overprotective sometimes. But other days, it wasn't as funny because I felt the exact same way about him, a constant and desperate need to be at his side, a maddening desire to know that he was alright, that everything would be alright. **_

_**But Carly's not like my Jimmy – would she really give her own life to save Freddie's? I wish Freddie would forget about her and move on. But somehow, I know he won't. Does that mean it's happening all over again? Is history really repeating itself with my son and his best friend?**_

"She knew." Freddie murmured after a long pause of not reading anything in his mother's diary.

"But that's impossible. She'd only know based on her own experience with my Dad. Did she know there was a chance that it could happen to me and someone else?" Freddie asked curiously of Michael.

"Every couple that has ever 'bonded' has always had a guardian that appeared to them to explain the nature of the bond along with its various conditions. Every guardian is different; some tell the couple everything there is to know about 'bonding' while other guardians prefer to only divulge the bare minimum of required facts, relying almost wholly on the couple's methods of 'trial and error' when it comes to experimenting with their own powers. Perhaps your parents' guardian belonged to the latter group; based on your Mom's own admission, she guessed at the truth without really knowing it." Michael replied nonchalantly.

"But even if it was just a guess – why not clue me in on it too? How could she keep this from me?"

"For one simple reason: she was trying to protect you, Freddie. Sound familiar?"

"Wait a minute…wait a minute! I can't believe this!" Freddie exclaimed unexpectedly, which caught Michael momentarily off guard.

"What is it, Freddie?" Michael asked curiously.

"My Mom wrote an entry about my Dad's car accident, the night he died. She never told me a whole lot about it because he died when I was about 3 years old. Look at this…" Freddie trailed off as he began reading more from his mother's diary:

_**If only that ceiling hadn't crumbled on top of me and a couple of other nurses and doctors during that surgery, Jimmy wouldn't have felt the need to come down to the hospital to come get me. He was always telling me that the hospital really needed to have the ceilings fixed before someone got seriously hurt. I wasn't badly hurt that night, I wish I could say the same about my other colleagues though and the patient being operated on. A piece of plaster from the ceiling fell at my feet; bits of it flew upwards and cut me on the cheek. But it was just a scratch compared to everyone else around me. **_

_**There was so much blood everywhere; I tried my best to do what I could for them. But I was mentally and physically tired; I just didn't have the strength to do what normally seemed so easy to me. I had taken strain too from all those late-night shifts at the hospital during that week. Jimmy always understood and was happy to stay with Freddie on those nights at the apartment, but I always worried. I hated being apart from them for too long, it made me crazy from how much I missed my family on those nights. **_

_**Jimmy was driving too fast that night – I always wished he wouldn't drive so fast when he was goofing off. Freddie used to love watching his Daddy drive; he'd kick his legs out, clap his hands and laugh so hard like he was having the time of his life. Jimmy got a kick out of making Freddie laugh and smile; it made him feel like he was being a good father. **_

_**Maybe that's how it happened when Jimmy missed that red light just a few blocks away from the hospital. Maybe he was looking at Freddie when that cab rammed him on the driver's seat of the car. From what the paramedics told me later, the entire right side of the car was smashed in, the left side untouched. God, when I think about what could've happened if Jimmy had buckled Freddie in on the backseat. For once, I was relieved that Jimmy's somewhat precarious nature made him buckle Freddie in next to him in the front passenger seat while he was driving. To think…Freddie was sitting right there when that cab rammed them from the side and killed his Dad…**_

"Freddie…" Michael trailed off, knowing full what was coming.

Freddie's entire body was rigid with shock while he sat on top of his mother's bed. Her diary felt extremely weighty in his hands, like it suddenly weighed a tonne, threatening to rip his arms right out of their sockets.

"I can't believe it…" Freddie remarked with a hollow laugh.

Then he faced Michael with a grim expression, which made the latter extremely uncomfortable.

"What do you know? I guess my talent of killing people around me started pretty early on in my life…" Freddie joked morbidly with hoarse laughter that didn't quite reach his eyes.

* * *

"So let me get this straight: you somehow blame yourself for Sam pushing Freddie down the stairs just because you didn't stop them in time before it happened?" Spencer questioned, trying to wrap his head around this.

Carly sighed loudly while facing her older brother. After she had made up her mind to talk to Spencer about what had happened, she had begun to slowly amend certain things as she went along. With grim satisfaction, Carly realised that she had gotten better at lying ever since that time Sam changed hers and Freddie's grades to A's by hacking into the Ridgeway's online database a lifetime ago. After the way Spencer had reacted over hearing what Rory had done to her, Carly couldn't risk his inevitable anger when he found out about Michael coming into her bedroom or about Michael period. That was something she didn't have the energy for tonight; that would have to wait till she had at least spoken to Freddie, if he ever decided to come back home.

She told Spencer about how she, Sam and Freddie had fallen down the stairs, but omitted telling him about how she had switched Freddie and Sam's positions in mid-air and made them crash-land into opposite inanimate objects in the living room. Then she had told Spencer about how she had begun thinking about hers and Freddie's current dynamic in a new light without mentioning Michael at all or the concept of 'bonding'.

And then the rest became unbelievably easy when it came to explaining her discomfort towards Freddie after the accident. Carly began blushing like crazy when she started talking about how she and Freddie had kissed on the fire escape outside her bedroom window the night before. But Carly rallied beautifully under the pressure and continued with her narrative, ending off with Freddie and Rory's confrontation which led to Freddie leaving the school abruptly (alone, of course) and her own fight with Sam, which had brought her back home.

"That's explains why you were so quiet at dinner last night," Spencer teased lightly in an effort to make Carly feel better after hearing about her kissing Freddie.

"But, Carly. You're looking at this all wrong. This is good news."

"How can any of this be good news, Spencer? I've fought with my two best friends in the whole wide world and they may never speak to me again." Carly responded miserably with her head in her hands.

How Carly managed to keep Michael out of any part of her narrative was a feat in itself. It had taken all of her powers of persuasion that she had at her disposal to centre the problem on hers and Freddie's discord of late. And that in itself wasn't a lie since they were having issues and like every other time, she was to blame.

"Don't you think you're being a little overdramatic?"

"No, Spencer. I really don't think I am."

"Everything's a mess right now and it's all my fault." Carly added morosely, her head sinking back against the couch while she closed her eyes with weary resignation.

"Carly, look at me."

When Carly didn't budge, Spencer sighed and took his kid sister by the shoulders and brought her forward so that he could look at her more directly.

"You're not responsible for what happened between Sam and Freddie on the stairwell. Maybe you could've handled things a whole lot better after that point, but everything before that wasn't your fault. Nor was it Freddie's fault either. From what you told me, it kinda sounds like Sam's responsible." Spencer declared, a little uneasily on the last part.

Carly knew just how Spencer felt in the moment. It made her cringe when she thought of blaming Sam for anything, even when she was clearly responsible. In spite of everything, Sam was still her best friend. And yet, Carly couldn't escape from Sam's innate culpability in the entire debacle.

"I know Sam's your best friend; heck, I've got a soft spot for the kid. But you and I both know that she's not exactly the girl next door, Carly. And she can be pretty volatile when she's around Freddie for what ever reason. Despite your misgivings, Sam's gotta take some responsibility for her actions. And as her best friend, you owe her at least a little honesty. You also owe Freddie a little honesty too," Spencer stated earnestly while resting a comforting hand on Carly's shoulder and squeezing it reassuringly.

"Making up with Sam's the easy part. I know I get mad at her when she does mean things to Freddie and sometimes takes it way too far. But at the end of the day, she's my best friend. But Freddie's different, Spencer. The things I've said and done to him lately – he's given me so many chances in the past. Somehow, I feel like I'm on my last leg with him. The way he looked at me when he left the school was just…" Carly trailed off, a lump forming in her throat while she looked away from Spencer.

"Look, I may not know exactly what kind of 'look' Freddie gave you before he left, but I do know one thing. No matter what's happened, Freddie loves you, Carls. He's been there for you through thick and thin; you don't invest that much time in someone over the years just to give up after one day. If anything, he was probably really freaked out after he knocked Rory unconscious and just panicked when he left the school earlier. Remember when Big Foot came after me in the Mount Baker Forest National Park? I was so freaked out that I just kept running until I got back to Socko's RV. Adrenaline mixed with fear will do that to ya," Spencer reasoned.

"Spencer, we still don't know whether Big Foot really came after you or not."

"It was Big Foot, I tell ya! Why won't anyone believe me about that? Or better yet, why does no one believe me about the Beavecoon that I heard hissing away in a nearby tree?"

"Maybe it's because the Beavecoon doesn't exist."

"It does exist! Head of a beaver, body of a raccoon! What could be more believable?"

Carly rolled her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Spencer, what were you saying before about Freddie being freaked out?" Carly questioned pointedly, bringing the conversation back to its nucleus, even though it was incredibly awkward to talk about these things with her older brother.

Then again, anything was better than rehashing 'The Legend of Beavecoon' all over again for the hundredth time.

"Oh, right. My point is that you mean way too much to Freddie for him to just give up on you. And he means way too much to you to just let slip beneath your fingers, Carls. Maybe neither of you has all of the logical answers that you're looking for. But sometimes, you've just gotta go with your gut and follow your heart." Spencer continued on more seriously.

"That's really great advice, Spencer. Except, I just can't seem to trust what I really feel around Freddie these days. When he kissed me last night, it was like coming back from that awful 'Root & Berry Retreat' where we were all stuck in a tent overnight in the pouring rain and just being home again. But on the other hand, it made me feel so scared because I've never felt anything like this before, not even when Freddie and I kissed the last time, right after his accident with the taco truck. I just don't know what any of this means." Carly lamented helplessly while resting her elbows on her knees and holding her head in her hands again.

"Carly, I may not know a whole lot about crushes and falling in love. But any time I have a question or any doubts about it, there are always two people who restore my faith time and time again."

"Who?"

"Mom and Dad."

A reminiscent smile appeared on Carly's face when she finally turned and looked at Spencer.

"I know what you mean. So many of my other friends' parents have divorced over the years and then there's both Sam and Freddie who don't have Dads. But whenever I think about Mom and Dad, it always makes me smile. They loved us a lot, but they loved each other even more." Carly stated somewhat wistfully.

"That's exactly my point. What Mom and Dad had was really special, something that only happens once in a lifetime. Do you know how rare that is, Carly? Finding someone who's perfect for you in every way that counts? I know lots of kids say that about their parents, but it was true in our case. Mom and Dad complimented each other in so many different ways; it's like they were totally in sync with each other on every level." Spencer replied seriously.

Something about what Spencer said struck a chord deep within Carly, especially the part about their parents being in sync with each other. Hadn't Michael said that hers and Freddie's hearts had been in sync when she tried to stop him from falling down the stairs? Was this what Michael had been referring to all along when he mentioned the possibility of a hereditary connection with 'bonding'?

"It's so weird to think that Mom and Dad only started dating in their senior year of high school, but they practically grew up together. They even lived in the same neighbourhood. How is it that you can practically know someone your whole life and not fall in love with them sooner?" Carly asked wonderingly.

"From what Dad's told me and the little that Mom told me before she got sick, they just didn't run in the same circles at school. Steven Shay was part of the popular crowd while Taylor Dorfman hung out with the Art students, who were considered to be really uncool. Dad once told me that Mom used to wear this really ugly art smock that was covered in paint stains all over; sometimes she even wore it on days when she didn't have Art class. He thinks she just wore it for the heck of it," Spencer joked, causing Carly to laugh boisterously for the first time that day.

"It's so hard picturing Mom wearing an art smock all the time. As far back as I can remember, she was always so beautiful, graceful and poised." Carly reminisced lightly once she and Spencer had stopped laughing.

"Yeah, that was Mom through and through: a real classy lady. But she also had her fun and creative side, especially when she first taught me how to draw." Spencer replied with a broad smile on his face at the memory.

"It's so weird to think that Mom and Dad barely paid attention to each other at first and then out of nowhere, they just fell in love with each other. How did it happen, Spencer?"

"Has Dad ever told you about that time that he stood up to this bully in school that was hassling Mom?"

"I think so, but only bits and pieces."

"Well, according to Dad, that was the day that everything changed for him. After that day when he finally laid eyes on Mom, he knew that there was no going back after that. He knew he'd never be the same again."

"What happened, Spencer?"

"According to Dad, it was just a normal day at school. He was sitting in the cafeteria with his friends at their regular table. He didn't even see Mom come into that cafeteria when lunch started. He only noticed her afterwards, when this bully named Dwight Richards started hassling this kid named Kenny Schultz, who was kind of a band geek. Dad didn't know Kenny all that well, but Mom was friends with him. Anyway, Dwight was yelling at Kenny and trying to force him to hand over the lunch sitting on his tray that he'd just bought. When Dwight pushed Kenny onto the ground, Mom got in Dwight's face and told him to cut it out; no one else really got up to intervene at that point. Dwight didn't like that at all and he actually went so far as to pull on Mom's arm and twist it back behind her so that it really started to hurt her.

Dad couldn't really explain it at the time, but he found himself on his feet and walking away from his friends to go help. Dad's always been kind of a hard-ass as long as I can remember; but if there's one thing I know he doesn't like, it's a man putting his hands on a woman in any way. And Dwight was a really mean kid. I guess that set Dad off and he decided to put Dwight in his place once and for all. He managed to pull Mom away from the fray and got in front of her so that he could have it out with Dwight. Dad was at least a head shorter than Dwight and Dwight was on the wrestling team at school. But the way Dad dealt with Dwight, Mom always said it was like nothing she'd ever seen before in her life."

"What did Dad do to Dwight, Spencer?"

"I'm not exactly sure; neither Mom nor Dad has ever given me the full details. All I know is that Dad somehow managed to lay Dwight out on the ground, right in front of everyone sitting in the cafeteria. Apparently Dwight got hurt so bad that he got kicked off of the wrestling team and lost out on a scholarship to WSU. Some of the teachers came and separated Dad from Dwight; a really mean History teacher named Mr. Gariboldi gave both Mom and Dad detention for starting the fight before sending Dad and Dwight off to the Nurse's Office.

Mom ended up tagging along with Dad and sat with him the whole time before the Nurse saw to him, holding his hand and stroking his bruised knuckles with her fingers. Dad always said that Mom had this amazing way of keeping him calm whenever he felt angry or scared. And Mom always said that she felt safest when Dad was by her side, keeping her steady and reassured. It started for both of them after that day in the cafeteria." Spencer concluded with a smile.

"Wow," Carly murmured after what seemed like an eternity.

"Yeah," Spencer agreed, matching her tone as they continued sitting together.

"Dad really beat up a guy bigger than him? Was he like…freakishly strong or something?" Carly asked with somewhat of a nervous chuckle.

Carly felt like she was on the cusp on finding out whether her parents really had 'bonded' before her and Freddie and whether they had any amazing powers to go with the unexpected change.

"I wouldn't say that. Grandpa taught him a few Martial Arts moves when he was a kid, when Grandpa was still in the Army. Then Mom and Dad got married pretty soon after they finished high school and he went to the Navy. If anything, I'd say Mom was the one who was freakishly strong out of the two of them," Spencer remarked nonchalantly.

Carly goggled at this and her eyes expanded to the size of saucers at this pronouncement.

"What do you mean?" she asked hoarsely.

"Well, my memory's a little fuzzy and Dad's told me time and time again that I probably imagined the whole thing. But I was about 6 years old and I was goofing off around Mom's closet in hers and Dad's bedroom, the one that she got from Grandma after she passed away. Anyway, my aeroplane went underneath the closet and I crawled halfway underneath to go get it. I think one of the legs on the closet was broken or something, because the closet suddenly collapsed and fell on top of me, trapping half of my body under it."

"Oh my God! Were you hurt?" Carly questioned in alarm, her hands covering her mouth.

"Not really. I freaked out a little because I couldn't breathe in the tight space under the closet and that made me really scared. But Mom was in the kitchen at the time and must've heard the closet collapse. I still don't know how she did it. But she got to me so quickly; either she hopped into the elevator or she just sprinted up the stairs, I'm not sure. After she got into her room and told me to stay calm and promised to get me out, I heard this weird noise a second later, like the wood was groaning in agony above me. Then the wood on the edges of the closet splintered and separated and the closet wasn't on top of me anymore. I heard something crash behind me and Mom suddenly scooped me up into her arms; her hand went around the back of my head while the other hand stayed on my back, and she kept whispering that I was ok over and over again. While she comforted me, I looked behind me and I saw Mom's closet, which had been dismantled completely. Even the legs were ripped off, including the one that collapsed in the first place. It took me close to a minute to realise that Mom wasn't whispering in my ear anymore. I finally looked at her face and saw that she was sobbing quietly; I always thought she was mad at me for playing near the closet.

When Dad got home later, Mom was still crying while I was playing with my aeroplane at her feet in front of this coffee table. I couldn't hear what Mom said to Dad, but he told her everything was fine and that he'd take care of it. I thought Dad would be mad too because he was always telling me not to play upstairs when he or Mom weren't up there with me. But he didn't yell at me or anything. He just picked me up in his arms like Mom did before and kissed me on the forehead before hugging me really tightly till it hurt my ribs. Then he went upstairs and stayed in his and Mom's bedroom for a while by himself. I realise now what he did up there for so long because Mom's closet was gone the next day. He dismantled the rest of it and probably tossed it in the junkyard. Sometimes, it feels like I dreamt the whole thing up. But I swear that it happened." Spencer concluded pensively.

"I believe you, Spencer." Carly murmured without hesitation, her eyes locked on her older brother.

"That you believe, and not something as plausible as 'Beavecoon'. Mom would've believed in 'Beavecoon." Spencer teased, which made Carly laugh, albeit bittersweet laughter.

"Yeah, she totally would've. I just don't get it," Carly stammered in an abruptly sad tone, which caught Spencer's attention.

"What?"

"If Mom could lift something as heavy as a closet off of you, why wasn't her body strong enough to fight off the leukaemia?"

"I don't know, Carls. I guess it's like that old Bible verse: 'the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.' Mom's always been a fighter as far back as I can remember. She never gave up on anything or anyone, not even herself. She fought with her last breath right till the end. And Dad was with her too, fighting the leukaemia right along with her. He only stopped when she asked him to on that last day they spent together in the hospital, when she told him it was time for her to finally let her go. I'm pretty sure Dad broke his promise," Spencer replied with a sad smile.

"I miss her so much, Spencer. It hurts so much that she's gone," Carly responded in a choked whisper as salty tears finally escaped her eyes.

"I know it does, kiddo. I miss her too, every single day." Spencer agreed mournfully.

He didn't offer any resistance when Carly fell into his arms of her own volition while she began crying her heart out for the mother she barely remembered, but couldn't forget.

* * *

To Michael's amazement, Freddie began laughing wryly at what he'd just said.

"This is really funny. I said I wanted to know about everything that Carly had been keeping from me lately. But I didn't mean it - I didn't wanna know this," Freddie responded with a vigorous shake of his head while he said it.

"Yes you did, Freddie." Michael persisted patiently.

To Freddie's surprise, Michael got up from his position on the other side of his mother's bed and came to sit next to him in what he considered as an unusual act of solidarity.

"You're right, I did wanna know. I always wanna know things, even things that can probably hurt me. Just like all those times before when I wanted to know if Carly felt about me the way I felt about her. I already knew the answer, I've always known. Just like I should've known I was in the car with my Dad when he died that night. I should've figured that my Mom would keep something like that from me. No one tells me anything for a reason. I can't handle it, especially the fact that I may have killed my Dad." Freddie lamented bitterly.

"Freddie, listen to me. What happened to your Dad was a terrible and tragic accident; you're not to blame. Your Dad was speeding trying to get to your Mom at the hospital, to help her, because of the 'bond'." Michael protested.

Freddie was on his feet again, hot white rage coursing through his veins while he looked at Michael with steely brown orbs.

"The 'bond' – you keep saying that everything that's happened so far is because of the 'bond'! Let me ask you something, Michael: if the stupid 'bond' is so damn special, then why is everything worse than when this all began? Why are Carly and I drifting further and further apart? And if my parents were supposed to protect each other through the 'bond', why is my Dad still dead?" Freddie roared irately.

"The 'bond' is only meant to protect you from supernatural forces or from a supernatural being that attacks you. Your Dad died of a car accident, Freddie. In that instant, a person can still be protected by the 'bond' if their partner is in close proximity to them. Maybe you were only a few blocks away from the hospital, but your Mom was still trapped in an OR with a crumbling ceiling. Your parents couldn't get to each other in time. They were both severely weakened; in your Mom's case, it was mostly mental and emotional. In your Dad's case, he sustained too many external and internal injuries.

I know this is hard to hear, but you need to hear it, so you don't end up repeating the same mistakes with Carly in the near future. You're the only one can who protect her and keep her safe. I know she's been blowing you off lately, but that's only because she's just as scared by all of this as you are, Freddie. The only way to deal with being 'bonded' is by doing it together. Now that you know, you can't turn your back on this and you can't run away. You have to face up to this." Michael concluded vehemently while placing his hands on Freddie's shoulders.

"And just how do I do that?" Freddie demanded, feeling like he had aged about 20 years in the space of a day.

"There's a reason why I haven't you told you absolutely everything about 'bonding'; if you want to know more, it's entirely up to you, Freddie. You need to talk to your Mom about your Dad. Then you need to talk to Carly so that the two of you can figure out what to do next." Michael reasoned.

He finally let go of Freddie's shoulders and gave him some room to collect himself. It took Freddie a good minute before he had finally recovered just enough to get back some of the colour in his face.

"You're right. I have no idea what I'm even gonna do or say, but I have to talk to my Mom and Carly. This has been one screwy day." Freddie noted wearily.

"You're telling me: fighting with the girl of your dreams; discovering that you may be connected to her on a supernatural level; taking on the captain of the football team to defend her honour. I'd say it's been one hell of a day for you, Freddie Benson." Michael praised.

Freddie tried to smile, but he felt sick to his stomach at the thought of hurting Rory. The guilt swam around like bile in his throat while he replayed the grotesque images over and over in his mind.

"There's still something I don't understand though," Michael began pensively after letting Freddie reflect for a moment or two.

"Why did you tell Carly not to touch you after you sent Rory Blake into that row of lockers? For a moment there, it looked like you almost…hated her." Michael declared in bewilderment.

Freddie coloured instantly at this statement, but recovered almost immediately before answering.

"It wasn't like that at all. It's just that…after I let go of Rory, I was still feeling all kinds of things like intense rage and hatred for putting his hands on Carly. In that moment, I felt like I wanted to kill him for trying to hurt her. And when Carly almost touched my arm to calm me down, I was scared that I might…hurt her too the same way I did with Rory." Freddie answered shamefacedly.

Michael didn't say anything, but the look in his eye told Freddie just how well he understood what he was trying to say.

"That's why I had to get out of there, besides being confused about why Carly's been so distant with me lately. And the fact that I probably killed the captain of the football team too," Freddie added.

"All very noble reasons for quitting the scene of the crime," Michael offered lightly in an attempt to cheer Freddie up.

"It is possible, isn't it? That if I can't keep a lid on my emotions, I could end up really hurting someone close to me, even Carly?"

"There are always risks when there's such a strong bond involved, particularly one like yours and Carly's. But I also know that neither you nor Carly are the types of people to wilfully hurt anyone without just cause or good intentions at the heart of your actions. You'll probably just have to work a little harder at keeping a tight rein on your more base instincts on those days when the power of the bond affects your bodies and minds more potently."

Freddie nodded grimly at this before he spoke again.

"I can't change what I did to Rory. He's a jerk, but I never meant to hurt him. No matter what happens from here on out, I need to own up to what I did." Freddie declared as steadily as possible, even though he could feel his whole body shivering.

"I'm glad you feel that way, Freddie. Because Rory's not dead," Michael interjected brightly.

"I guess I've gotta head back to school in the morning and talk to Principal Franklin about – wait, what?"

"You can relax. You didn't kill Rory."

"Wait! Rory's really ok?"

"The champ's gonna be just fine. I hate to disappoint you, but you didn't really do that much damage after all. But if you ever wanna turn Rory Blake into a corpse for real, you have to put some action behind those muscles next time. You have to really mean to hurt him."

"That sounds like something out of 'Harry Potter."

A brilliant smile appeared on Michael's face and he began laughing heartily.

"I like you, Freddie Benson. For a shrimp, you're kind of bad-ass. You've got a lot of balls, kid." Michael praised, which bordered on grim respect.

"Thanks…I guess." Freddie replied abashedly.

"Don't thank me yet. There's one more thing I have to tell you before I go."

Freddie was thrown by this unexpected response, but waited for Michael to speak again.

"For the time being…until you and Carly get a better handle on your 'bond', I think it's best not to be too emphatic about your new powers, especially by telling anyone else just yet." Michael began severely.

"So we can't even tell Sam and Spencer about it, if necessary?" Freddie asked in disappointment.

"I suppose it's alright to tell the two of them. But no one else, do you understand?"

"Sort of. But just so I know – what would be the consequences if either Carly or myself happened to let it slip to anyone else outside of Sam and Spencer?"

Michael stepped closer towards Freddie till he towered over him, a bright smile on his face that made Freddie cower back slightly in fear.

"Let me put it this way, Freddie. If either you or Carly were to brag about or broadcast your powers in any way, you might end up drawing a lot of negative attention to yourselves by certain individuals whom you wouldn't want to meet under ordinary circumstances, much less ones of a supernatural nature. People with special abilities are always naturally drawn to each other and both you and Carly could be forced to use your powers in a way that has absolutely nothing to do with protecting each other through your mutual bond." Michael replied in a cryptic tone that made the hairs on Freddie's back stand straight up.

"You mean we'd have to use them to protect ourselves to stop other people with supernatural powers from attacking us?"

"Exactly. The powers of a 'bond' are only meant to be used in extremely dangerous situations where one or both of the parties are at risk. Sometimes the powers can be used and extended when friends or family members are also in danger, maybe even an innocent civilian or two. But if you were to use those powers for anything else – if someone forced you to use them for any other purpose apart from that, the consequences could be deadly, Freddie. Adrenaline-based energy only works to a certain point; if used in excess, it can drain the life forces of people around you and eventually, the user too."

"So if Carly and I ever let anyone else outside of Sam and Spencer in on our little secret, other supernatural beings with special powers and abilities could…come for us? Collect us and maybe use our powers against us to hurt other people? And Carly and I could die too if we overstep the limits of the 'bond'?"

"Something like that. So do yourself a favour and make a point of figuring out early on who your true friends are and who those people are who may possibly hurt either you or Carly. Oh, and Freddie? Could you make sure you pass that last piece of my message onto Carly too? I'd hate it if the two of you were ever caught off guard by another supernatural being only too eager to use you and your abilities for any…untoward purposes." Michael concluded with a grim smile on his face.

"Till we meet again, Freddie Benson. Adieu."

In blur of swirling black, Michael disappeared in a flash. With sudden disappointment, Freddie realised that he never got a chance to ask Michael just what kind of powers he and Carly had now. Then the disappointment was replaced with resolution as he thought about what he had to do next.

* * *

Carly and Spencer had been sitting together the entire time on the living room sofa, hugging each other quietly without exchanging any words. Carly felt bad for ruining Spencer's favourite T-shirt which said 'Socko's My Guy', but Spencer didn't seem to mind. Carly and Spencer both smiled at each other when he finally let go of her.

"You feeling better, kiddo?" Spencer asked kindly of Carly.

"A little bit. Thanks, Spencer."

"For what?"

"For just…being you." Carly responded earnestly.

"Anytime. I'm gonna go make some chicken soup – you want some?"

"Thanks, that'll be great."

"Ok, coming right up." Spencer concluded with a big grin on his face while getting to his feet.

Carly watched Spencer bustling about in the kitchen when they both heard three loud raps on the front door. They instantaneously looked up at each other.

"Are you expecting anyone?" Carly asked of Spencer.

"Uh uh."

"I'll get it," Carly responded hurriedly before hopping off of the couch.

She couldn't understand why her heart was fluttering like a little girl jumping over a skipping rope. All she knew for certain was that it was important that she answer the door before the person on the other end gave up and left again. Of all the nights that Spencer decided to lock the door…

"Coming," Carly called out breathlessly and ran a hand through some of her dark tresses which had matted together against her cheek because of her tears.

Then she opened the front door with a sweeping gesture of exhilaration, only for her relief to be replaced by sudden disenchantment.

"Oh…it's just you."

* * *

**Author's Note: Oops, I did it again: another strange cliffhanger. Now who could possibly be at the door this time? Magic Malika perhaps? Hee hee, just kidding on that front. A big thank you to One Horse Shay and his wonderful story called "iCarly's Father" on creddiefans; I got inspired by his flashback of Carly's parents in there that I sampled it for this story. Some details are different in my story, but his story really helped me in a big way with characterisation, especially for Taylor Dorfman. Spencer's flashback about his mother and Marissa Benson's diary entires are totally my own creation though ;D I might be posting One Horse Shay's fic on my FF profile one of these days because he doesn't have his own FF account. If I do, keep an eye out for it, it's a fantastic Creddie story. **

**For baronvonmilo's audio pleasure, check out Kris Allen's 'I Need To Know' (another find from 'Vampire Diaries') - it sets the mood for this chapter quite well ;D**

**Thank you so much for all the reviews last weekend and this week that brought the reviews for this story up to a grand total of 108 - congratulations to sweetStarre123 for being the 100th reviewer, don't spend the prize money all in one place ;D I really hope you all liked this new update, probably 3 more chapters to go before this story's finished. Have a great weekend, cheers!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: Helloo, everyone! How are you all doing? I hope you all had stupendous weeks. Mine wasn't so hot because of ridiculously grown-up endeavours and stresses. But at least my Tuesday night was cool when I finally watched 'iPity The Nevel'. It was so good to finally see a genuinely funny iCarly episode after such a long gap. It almost makes me forgive Dan Schneider for being a wang of late..._almost_. This is another super-long chapter, so you'd better bring along a travel bag of supplies and have your wits about you ;D Now to answer last week's mystery: who's at the door of the Shay apartment?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly or the characters depicted in this story, just Michael the angel/demon and my own cliffhangers ;D  
**

* * *

In spite of her innate disappointment, Carly managed to recover herself quite remarkably when she saw who was at the door.

"Hey."

"What? No fanfare greeting or complimentary Fat Cakes for your best friend?" Sam questioned drolly.

"Come on in, Sam." Carly implored, ignoring the quip for the moment.

She stepped back graciously to let Sam in. Sam didn't need a second invitation and shuffled noiselessly into the dimly lit living room.

"Hey, Spence," Sam greeted while swinging her shoulders casually from side to side as she spoke.

"Hey, Sam. Nice of you to drop by," Spencer greeted back in a cordial manner with a smile on his face.

"Well, it beats watching my Mom give herself a bikini wax. You working on a new painting?" Sam asked with a tilt of her head towards the easel still resting against the kitchen counter.

"Yip, just taking a break. I'm making some chicken soup, you want some?"

"Thanks. You mind if I have some ham on the side with it?"

"Coming right up," Spencer answered brightly and busied himself with dishing out some soup.

And while he whistled gaily in the kitchen, an uncomfortable silence grew between Sam and Carly in the living room. Sam's hands were shoved deep into the pockets of her black skinny jeans while Carly's arms were folded tightly across their chest, neither of them taking their eyes off of each other.

"Mind if I sit?" Sam asked of Carly.

"Go ahead," Carly replied with a gesture towards the sofa.

Sam acquiesced and planted herself down on the sofa with a soft thump. Carly remained standing for the moment while she looked intently at her best friend.

"What are you doing here, Sam?"

"I came to see my best friend, just like I do every single day. And since you left school in such a hurry earlier, I thought you'd wanna know that Rory's in the hospital."

"Is he ok? Was he badly hurt?"

Carly was sure that Spencer was eavesdropping from the kitchen, but ignored it for the moment in her haste to find out any news related to Rory Blake.

"Well, he's got a sprained collar bone, a broken arm, couple of cracked ribs and a possible concussion. But from what Wendy told me, it sounds like he's gonna be ok. The doctor's have got him on meds for the pain. He probably has to spend a week or two in the hospital while he recovers." Sam answered nonchalantly.

"Thank God," Carly murmured in obvious relief, sinking down automatically into a spot on the sofa next to Sam.

"Now that you seem visibly calmer than a couple of hours ago, you mind explaining both yours and Freddie's outbursts at school earlier?" Sam questioned pointedly.

Before Carly could answer, Spencer's cellphone began ringing shrilly on top of the kitchen counter. Spencer stopped spooning soup into a bowl and jogged to go grab it.

"It's Socko; I'm gonna go take this in my bedroom. Holler if you need anything," Spencer stated hurriedly.

Then he ran into his room while answering his cellphone, leaving Sam and Carly sitting by themselves on the living room sofa. Carly squeezed her hands together where her knuckles were interlaced before turning to face Sam.

"It's complicated, Sam. All of this is really complicated."

"So un-complicate it, Carls. Let's at least start with the fact that you accused me out of nowhere of hurting Freddie on purpose by pushing him down the stairs."

"That's because it's the truth! Freddie could've been badly hurt because of what you did!"

"But he wasn't, so what's the big deal? If Freddie's not mad at me, then why are you?"

Carly laughed humourlessly at this while she shook her head at Sam's words.

"Maybe Freddie doesn't get that mad at you when you push him around. But that's only because he doesn't wanna hurt me by calling you out. And I keep putting his feelings on the back-burner because I'm too busy worrying about not hurting you. It's come full-circle." She murmured mirthlessly.

"So what are you saying? You'd rather take Freddie's side over mine?" Sam demanded in a sour tone.

"You don't get it, do you, Sam? This isn't about choosing sides. This is about me doing the right thing for both you and Freddie."

"What the heck does that mean?"

Before Carly could answer, Spencer came bounding out of his bedroom while shrugging into a hoodie at the same time.

"Socko's in trouble and I've gotta go help him real quick," Spencer declared hurriedly while jogging to the front door.

"What happened? Is he ok?" Carly asked in concern while both she and Sam got to their feet.

"I think so. He's uh…kinda stuck down a man-hole a few blocks away from here."

"What?" Carly shrieked in horror.

"How did that happen?" Sam asked in confusion.

"I'm not sure, but he sounded really freaked out while he was talking on the phone, so I couldn't make out a whole lot of what he was trying to tell me. I'm gonna go and see if I can get him out."

"Do you want us to come with you?" Carly offered graciously.

"No, you and Sam stay here, I'll be fine. Just make sure you stay near the phone in case I have to call you for anything."

"No problem. Please be careful, Spencer." Carly chided anxiously.

"Come on, Carls. I'm always careful."

"Yip, and that's exactly what worries me. Promise me you won't fall down a man-hole while trying to save Socko."

"I promise." Spencer answered with a dramatic eye-roll.

"I'll be back soon. Take care of yourselves while I'm gone."

Spencer smiled at them one last time before closing the front door behind them.

"Seems like today's the day for random chizz," Sam commented after a few seconds of silence.

"Tell me about it." Carly agreed pensively while staring off into space.

Now that Sam and Carly were back on their feet and regarding each other with steady expressions, Carly began formulating a plan in her head on how best to broach the subject.

"Now that we finally have a private moment to ourselves, maybe you can explain what you meant about doing what's right for both me and Dorkward."

"Sam, I need you to lay off of Freddie from now on. It's one thing for the two of you to have your verbal sparring contests, it's part of the dynamic that the two of you share. But putting your hands on him and ill-treating him, it scares me a lot."

"Why? Are you scared that I might go too far and really do some damage to Freddie?"

"Actually, no. I'm scared that this time around, you'll push Freddie too far and he'll snap. And I'm scared that you'll wind up being the one who ends up getting really hurt, Sam." Carly stated with emphasis.

Just as Carly expected, Sam began cackling hysterically in response, going so far as to close her eyes and clutch her stomach painstakingly. To Carly's utter lack of surprise, there were tears in Sam's eyes when she was done.

"Cupcake, let's be serious for a minute. Freddie couldn't hurt me if he tried, not even if he pumped iron every day for the next 10 years in a prison yard." Sam teased wryly.

"That's where you're wrong, Sam. Freddie could hurt you if he really wanted to. How far away were you standing when Rory hit that pile of lockers clear across the hallway at school?" Carly inquired curiously.

"I don't know, I was probably standing closer to the stairwell when it happened and when both you and Freddie left through the back exit. Why?" Sam demanded impatiently.

"Rory didn't trip and fall into a pile of lockers, Sam. Rory started getting grabby with me and Freddie stepped in. When Rory didn't listen, Freddie grabbed him and threw him into the lockers. Freddie hurt Rory, really hurt him."

Sam remained silent for a few seconds, her head bowed while she thought it over.

"What are you saying? Freddie's turned into the Incredible Hulk overnight and knocked the football captain out cold?"

"Not overnight, Sam. It happened because you pushed Freddie down the stairs. And because I ended up throwing all three of us over the railing because I was trying to stop Freddie from getting hurt. You weren't supposed to hit Spencer's sculpture, Sam. I pushed you into it on purpose to shield Freddie by pushing him into the back of the sofa instead. Except that it didn't work too well and Freddie still got a concussion from falling. But the point is that I did it, Sam."

Sam watched Carly's eyes for a long time, trying to figure out if her best friend was playing some elaborate prank on her. But Carly didn't blink once and that unnerved Sam to no end.

"You're serious." She stated in a soft murmur that barely left her parted lips.

"But you can't be. Fredlumps can't have 'super-human strength' and neither can you, Carls."

"Believe what you want, Sam. But you asked me for the truth and I'm telling you what you wanted to know."

"That can't be the truth, Carls. It's one thing to believe in Big Foot since the 6th grade. But it's a totally different thing to believe that you have special powers to do stuff to other people." Sam pointed out sceptically.

Carly knew that she was towing a very fine line between truth and reality. But it was too late to turn back now, especially if she was going to make Sam understand just how serious she was about everything that had transpired.

"You don't believe me."

It wasn't a question, but Carly's way of simply stating the obvious with resigned clarity.

"I don't know what to believe. What you're saying is pretty weird." Sam confessed seriously.

"Then I'll prove it to you. Say something mean about Freddie."

"I thought you just told me to lay off of Freddie."

"Just do it, Sam! Say something really insulting about Freddie and mean it, something that you know will make me angry."

Sam frowned in confusion, but squared her shoulders as if she was preparing to charge Carly. Carly had no idea what was going to happen next, but she instinctively knew that the next few seconds would change everything between her and Sam.

"Nothing I ever say about Fredduccini is insulting, Carls, just the truth. He's a nerd who's into computers, geeky TV shows like 'Galaxy Wars' and he has this crazy idea that you and him are gonna end up together in some fairytale romance. How would any of that make me want to actually respect the nub? His Mom's a controlling sociopath who wouldn't know how to cut the cords of over-protective parenting even if someone handed her a pair of scissors. There's nothing remotely redeeming about Freddie Benson. He always has been and always will be a grade-A loser. I'd hate him if he weren't so damn pathetic." Sam declared with smug smile on his face, not looking sorry in the least.

There it was, that flood of warmth rushing through Carly's very bones which tingled with suppressed rage at Sam's words. And she had thought that the burn only came when Freddie caressed her body with rough and tender touches which made her want to melt into an incoherent swirl on the ground. Apparently, the heat could be triggered when she was angry, just like she had surmised when Freddie had grabbed hold of Rory and thrown him into a row of lockers a few hours ago. And right now, the warmth, which had radiated into a scorching flame, was licking away at her, aching to strike at her best friend with amber rancour.

"Sam…" Carly hissed painstakingly, an attempt at a spontaneous warning which vibrated haphazardly against her lips.

Sam first saw the change in Carly's irises before she noticed the light bulbs go subtly dimmer in the living room. Carly's eyes, which were usually a lovely shade of chocolate brown, were now as black as tar, gaunt and unfathomable. Sam couldn't explain why she suddenly felt afraid of what was about to happen. But her body wouldn't let her escape; her feet stayed stubbornly stuck to the wooden tiles beneath her.

"Carly…" Sam murmured weakly, feeling her own heart-rate increase exponentially in the space of a few seconds.

"Sam!" Carly bellowed in a voice she barely recognised right before her body and brain separated altogether.

Sam barely had time to duck when several light bulbs above her smashed and exploded, the light disappearing into the tiny shards which erupted all around her and littered her shoulders and hands, which moved to protect her head, like flecks of diamonds. Sam's legs finally regained some movement and she managed to side-step to her right out of harm's way, nearest to the wall before one entered the Shay's kitchen.

And that brought her right in line with the gold fish bowl which was resting on top of the coffee table.

Her eyes widened in horror as the bowl lifted off the wooden surface as if it were bouncing on a trampoline with sudden speed and began rushing towards her face, pelting through the air like a runaway train. Sam could almost envision the glass bowl filled with water smacking her right in the mouth and possibly splitting her lip and breaking her nose on contact before knocking her unconscious.

In just a second, the fish bowl was going to come pelting right at her.

In a second, she was going to be killed on the spot by the inevitable blow.

Before she could even move to save herself, the bowl abruptly changed course and headed for a stretch of wall next to her. And then it crashed violently a few inches away from her cheek, the glass exploding into millions of rough shards, which just missed her skin and shot forward away from her. But the same couldn't be said for the water, which hit Sam on the side of her cheek and wet her entire face and long tendrils of blonde hair with shocking alacrity, which left her dazed and confused.

All of this had occurred in about 5 seconds. But Sam could've sworn that time had slowed down. With her heart in her throat and her fists clutched tightly at her sides, she finally chanced a look at Carly, who was breathing and panting heavily. Her eyes, which had been dilated and blackened seconds ago, were back to normal. Sweat poured down her face like water and her fists too were balled up tightly at her sides. Carly finally straightened her shoulders and looked at Sam, the horror in her eyes betraying her for a split second before they were replaced with resignation.

"Holy chizz, Carly…" Sam mumbled in awe while staring at the shards of glass strewn all over the living room floor.

After all the bizarre things that had occurred in the past few hours, much less the entire week, Carly found that she had just enough strength to smile sheepishly in response.

* * *

Marissa Benson unlocked the door of her apartment and hung the keys on a nearby hook with a weary countenance. It had been a long shift at the hospital and she was exhausted. All she had energy for was to take a nice long hot soak in the tub, or at least convince her one and only son to try a new tick disinfectant that she had researched on the Internet.

To her intense surprise, she found Freddie sitting on her bed, his shoulders hunched forward and clasping a strange object in his hand while staring straight ahead into space. Freddie shifted his position slightly when he saw that his mother was finally home. It felt like a lifetime ago that he'd last seen her.

"Freddie?"

"Hi, Mom."

"What are you doing in my bedroom? What's happened?" Marissa asked all in one breath.

"Just brushing up on Dad's last few minutes on Earth. As it turns out, I had a front row seat to the whole thing." Freddie retorted morbidly by way of explanation.

He tossed the diary listlessly so it sailed a few inches along the duvet closer towards Marissa. She gaped in astonishment when she recognised the all-too-familiar leather binding of the book her son had been holding a second ago.

"_You read my diary? My innermost private thoughts?_" Marissa exploded indignantly.

"When were you gonna tell me, Mom?"

"Freddie, how could you go through my things without my permission?"

"That wasn't my intention, it was just something I stumbled onto. I need to know why you kept this from me, Mom." Freddie stated in a firm voice.

"I didn't mean to, Freddie. I've lived with the pain of losing your Dad all these years; it's all I can think about sometimes."

"You told me that you and Dad left me with a babysitter that night, that Dad came alone to come get you from the hospital when the accident happened. How could you look me in the eye every single day and lie to my face, Mom?" Freddie exclaimed heatedly, finally getting to his feet.

"I didn't want you to be haunted by the idea of being in the car the night your Dad was killed. Please try to understand; I did it to protect you, Freddie."

Marissa instinctively moved closer and tried to put a comforting hand on Freddie's shoulder, secretly grateful when he didn't pull away.

"I'm sorry I kept it from you all these years. But it's in the past now and it's best if you forget about it, and try to focus on more positive things."

That's when Freddie finally stepped out of his mother's grasp to look her dead in the eye.

"That's just it, Mom. I don't think I can put any of this behind me. Everything's changed and I have to face up to that."

Marissa didn't like the look in Freddie's eye one bit.

"Freddie, what are you talking about?"

"I lied to you about what really happened on the stairwell in the Shay's apartment last week. I didn't fall down the stairs because I was wearing open-toed shoes. Sam pushed me down the stairs, Mom; that's how I hit my head against the sofa." Freddie explained in a frank manner.

"_She did what? _I should've known that blonde-headed demon was behind this. To think that I've let you hang around that girl all these years! And once again, Carly just stood by and let my baby get hurt again!" Marissa fumed in an irate tone.

"Mom, knock it off! I just told you who's responsible! It's not Carly's fault!"

"Just like it wasn't her fault when you jumped in front of a taco truck to save her?"

"How many times do I have to tell you that wasn't her fault either? Would it have made you happy if I hadn't jumped in front of that truck and just let it hit her? Would it make you ecstatic if she had almost died that day instead of me?"

"Don't you use that tone on me, young man-"

"I'm gonna use whatever tone helps you finally get the message! Carly didn't just let Sam push me down the stairs; she tried to intervene."

"Oh really? Because as far as I can tell, you still fell down the stairs and almost cracked your head open. So enlighten me: how did Carly try to intervene?"

"When I fell down the stairs, I should've hit Spencer's sculpture and Sam should've hit the sofa. Carly pushed Sam in front of me and she hit the sculpture; that's where Spencer found her when he entered the apartment. I hit the sofa instead because Carly was trying to shield me in mid-air."

"That's impossible. How could Carly have possibly shielded you in mid-air? I knew that switching from Wheato's to Fibre Nuts would lessen your brain functionality." Marissa retorted scathingly.

"Then let me explain it in simple terms so you can understand. Carly pushed Sam out of the way and tried to stop me from getting hurt, just like I did with her today."

"Freddie, you're not making any sense. What are you talking about?" Marissa asked in a pleading tone.

"Principal Franklin hasn't tried to get in touch with you today?" Freddie questioned in sudden surprise.

"Well, I wouldn't know, since I've been doing rounds all afternoon. Why would Principal Franklin try to call me, Fredward?" Marissa queried sternly.

"I got into a fight today with the captain of the football team."

"Oh my God! Freddie, are you hurt?"

Marissa's hands began wandering all over Freddie's face, trying to discern whether they were any cuts and bruises on his skin. Freddie eventually grew impatient and slapped his mother's hands away.

"No, I'm not hurt, Mom. But the other guy might be, I'm not sure. I threw him into a row of lockers and knocked him unconscious. Then I left school before the end of the day and came back here."

"Fighting and skipping class? Fredward Benson, what's gotten into you?"

"I told you, I was trying to protect Carly."

"By picking a fight with another student?"

"He was harassing Carly and I put a stop to it. He wouldn't listen when I told him to back off. Then he grabbed Carly again and I pulled him off of her before sending him into a row of lockers. And I'm not sorry I did it either." Freddie declared in a steady voice.

"Freddie, how could you do something so cruel and vicious? Did Carly incite you to do this?"

"You're not listening to me, Mom. I had to step in and act, just like Carly had to step in when Sam pushed me down the stairs. Don't you get it? Carly triggered it when she pushed me into the sofa."

"Triggered what, Freddie?"

"She triggered the 'bond', Mom. Carly and I have 'bonded'. There's no point pretending you don't know what I'm talking about, because I already know that you know. I read all about it in there," Freddie declared while pointing a finger at his mother's diary on the bed.

"I know it happened to you and Dad. That's why he died that night – he was trying to stop you from getting hurt when that ceiling collapsed in the OR."

Marissa collapsed onto her bed in a sudden daze, her exhaustion having vanished instantly at Freddie's words. And what was left was plain resignation.

"Oh my God…" she breathed.

"Yeah." Freddie agreed, coming to sit down next to his mother again while they stared off into space.

"You and Carly…"

Freddie nodded slowly at his mom before sighing loudly.

"Oh my God. This can't be happening again. He promised that the chances of it going beyond me and Jimmy were rare…" Marissa mumbled to herself.

"Who's 'he'? Your Guardian?" Freddie questioned curiously.

Marissa looked over at Freddie in obvious shock.

"How do you know about the guardians?" she demanded.

"My guardian told me all about it today after I left school. He found a way to talk to both me and Carly during the week and explained that we 'bonded'." Freddie answered truthfully.

"No, it can't be true…"

"Mom, calm down-"

"Don't tell me to calm down, Freddie! A 'bond' isn't something to joke about, it's serious. If I could've stopped it from happening to me and your Dad, then I would've! Maybe then, your Dad might still be alive." Marissa retorted in a miserable voice.

"You can't honestly believe that, Mom. What happened to Dad was an accident – he got hit by a cab because he missed a red light, because he was distracted. It wasn't something supernatural that killed him. Dad was rushing to get to you because he didn't want you to get hurt. I did the same thing for Carly when I jumped in front of that taco truck; I didn't want her to die." Freddie declared earnestly.

"But you can't control it, Freddie! Don't you understand? You have to live with the consequences of the 'bond' for the rest of your life. You don't get a choice at all! And then there are the powers that will affect you physically and emotionally. You can't lead a normal life; you'll never have a moment's peace. You'll always be worrying about some unforeseen danger just lurking around the corner everywhere you go. How can you live that way?" Marissa fumed in a ringing tone, getting to her feet again.

"I don't have all the answers, Mom. I don't know how any of this is gonna work out. But whatever happens, Carly and I will find a way to figure it out." Freddie responded calmly.

"Why her?" Marissa asked painstakingly.

"Because I love her!" Freddie roared unexpectedly, catching even himself off guard.

"Bond or no bond, it's always gonna be Carly, Mom. You don't have to like it, but I need you to understand. Even if Carly never returns my feelings, I have to be with her every step of the way, even if she just wants me around as a friend. Loving her is part of who I am."

Marissa began sobbing quietly and Freddie moved closer to rub her shoulders soothingly, all remnants of his anger erased from his mind.

"Don't you see, Mom? Would you have walked away from Dad if you had known about the 'bond' before you met him? Can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me that would've stopped you from loving him, even if he had still died a few years later?"

Marissa hiccoughed slightly while staring intently at her only son, whose eyes were the exact shade of brown as Jimmy's.

"No, Freddie. I'd be lying if I ever said that. I wanted and needed your Dad in my life. He didn't just save me from stepping into a bus that day. He saved me long after that too. And you wouldn't be here if not for your Dad. As much as I miss him every single day, I will never regret loving him." Marissa answered earnestly.

"It's the same thing with Carly. Even though she's hurt me in the past, I don't regret knowing her or loving her. Being 'bonded' to her has finally made me realise that. And if there's the slightest chance that she feels the same way about me, then I'm not giving up on her, not ever." Freddie replied vehemently.

Marissa saw the truth of his words etched on his face. It reminded her all too well of the things that Jimmy used to say to her when they first fell in love with each other. Despite her many attempts to keep Freddie safe over the years, she knew that this was one situation she couldn't control.

"You have to go to her." Marissa stated, more out of resignation than true acceptance.

"Yeah. I need to talk to Carly and somehow make this all right. Don't wait up."

After giving his mother's shoulder a gentle squeeze, Freddie offered one last small smile before shuffling quietly out of her room, his hands thrust deep into his jeans pockets. Marissa stood still as she watched him go, clutching her diary in her hands, a lone tear staining the leathery surface.

* * *

Sam was sitting on top of the sofa towel-drying her hair while Carly was hunched over cleaning up the shards of glass which littered the living room floor in every direction with a small grey coloured broom and a matching scooper.

"You really don't pack any punches with insulting Freddie." Carly noted wryly.

"You told me not to. It obviously worked and got you juiced up enough to almost beam me in the head with a glass fish bowl with a gold fish still in it, which you just killed." Sam pointed out blandly.

"Actually, Spencer already killed our latest gold fish earlier in the day; I just forgot to take the water out of the bowl and clean it out." Carly joked lightly.

"It really took you a few seconds to fire glass at me? It felt like a whole hour passed. Was it like this when you tried to stop Freddie from falling down the stairs?"

"Yeah, it was. I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience when it happened, like I couldn't really control it. Then my body took over and the glass started flying in all directions. But a part of my brain told me that I couldn't hit you with the fish bowl."

"My head thanks that part of your brain."

Carly smirked at this before becoming remorseful once more.

"I really am sorry about the glass, Sam. I just needed you to understand that I wasn't kidding around about what's happened to me and Freddie lately."

"Don't sweat it, I guess I deserved a little healthy fear, since I'm usually the one dishing it out. I got the message loud and clear." Sam quipped while shaking her wet hair out of her face, which was steadily turning brown under the dim light.

"Do you honestly feel that way about him? Do you really hate Freddie, Sam?"

"Not really, I might've over-exaggerated some points. I may not like him all the time, but I definitely don't hate the nub."

"Maybe you should tell him that more often."

Sam didn't answer, but continued drying her wet hair off with a fluffy towel. Carly raised an eyebrow when Sam began chuckling unexpectedly.

"What's so funny?"

"I still can't believe you used Matrix moves on me in mid-air and made me hit Spencer's robot sculpture."

"How is that funny?"

"Because Freddie still got hurt from you trying to save him. Even he did better when he jumped in front of that taco truck for you." Sam chortled unabashedly.

Carly frowned at first, but began laughing at the startling truth behind Sam's words.

"Why do you think it didn't work? You stopping Freddie from getting hurt, I mean." Sam clarified in a more serious tone once their laughter had subsided.

"I've been wondering about that myself. Freddie didn't mess up by hurting me accidentally when he grabbed Rory, so why did I screw up? Michael said I was distracted and scared when I tried to stop Freddie from falling. Maybe your powers work better when you're angry." Carly guessed.

"Makes sense. I always get better aim punching Freddie in the arm when he's mocked me beforehand and it ticks me off." Sam noted casually.

Carly threw Sam a disbelieving glare and shook her head.

"I'm kidding." Sam offered lightly with a small smile on her face, which mollified Carly for the time-being.

"I still can't believe that you neglected to tell me that you were alone in your bedroom with a really hot older guy a week ago." Sam marvelled with just a hint of envy in her voice.

Carly was surprised that Sam didn't seem that fearful of Michael, even after Carly had told her that he may possibly be a demon of sorts. She imagined that Sam got just as much of a kick out of bad boys as she used to.

"I told you, Sam, it wasn't like that. Michael literally came to talk to me about the 'bond'. He was outside the school when Freddie took off earlier. I think they left together; maybe Michael's explaining things to him too as we speak." Carly surmised shrewdly.

"This chizz is really weird. Out of everyone in Seattle, why the two of you?"

"I'm not sure, it seems to happen at random with certain people depending on their relationship and specific circumstances, like whether their parents 'bonded' before them and stuff." Carly explained in a casual voice while dusting up the shards of glass.

"Doesn't it freak you out that you technically don't have a choice in who you 'bond' with? Doesn't it bother you that you basically… _belong_ to Fredlumps now?" Sam questioned with emphasis.

"I don't belong to Freddie, Sam. Just like he doesn't belong to me either. Every thing we've done up till now has been our own choice, regardless of whether we were fated to meet a long time ago. I would've freaked if Michael had come to visit me a few years ago and told me that Freddie and I 'bonded', because we were just friends then. But now…"

"What are you now though? I mean, you guys did kiss…again."

A blush crept up Carly's neck and cheeks while she thought back on the previous night's events after telling Sam all about it.

"Yeah, we did." She admitted softly.

"So what are you saying, Carls? Are you and Freddie like…a couple now?" Sam pressed.

"I don't know. The whole 'bonding' and kiss thing freaked me out at first, even though I liked the kiss a lot. But after talking to Spencer earlier and realising that my parents probably bonded too, it's not so terrifying thinking about it. What if all of this happened for a reason? Me meeting Freddie, becoming friends with him and him falling in love with me? Let's face it, my track record with guys hasn't been great up till now. What if it's because Freddie's been the right guy all along, and I was just too stubborn to see it? I know this whole thing is pretty complicated and I have no idea what Freddie and I are gonna do from here on out. But I do know that I need to stop running away from this and talk to him, openly and honestly."

"I guess you're right."

"I just wish I knew where Freddie was right now. I'm so worried about him." Carly stated in an anxious tone, glancing at her front door for the umpteenth time.

"Damn, Cupcake. Who knew you'd turn into the door-peeper after all these years?" Sam asked while snickering to herself.

"You really care about him, don't you?" she asked more seriously after a few seconds of silence.

Carly turned to stare at her best friend in the whole wide world, the ghost of a smile forming on her face.

"Yeah I do, Sam. I hope he's ok. I just want him to come home." She whispered morosely.

Just then, someone began knocking softly on the front door.

"Urgh, it better not be that nub Gibby looking for a flash drive filled with lame episodes of 'Galaxy Wars'. I'm not in the mood for that chizz right now." Sam complained while groaning into the towel in her hands.

Carly let go of the broom and began walking to the front door while dusting off her jeans at the same time. She stopped short and blinked a few times when she saw who it was.

It was Freddie standing in the hallway, his hands thrust deep into his jeans pockets and his head bowed slightly while he struggled to maintain eye-contact with Carly. Even Sam looked genuinely surprised to see him from her vantage point on the sofa. The tension was so palpable that Freddie did the first thing that came to mind to break it.

He waved.

"Hi…" he greeted softly with a wry smile on his face.

* * *

**Author's Note: Lmao, at least you know it's Freddie on the other side of the door this time ;D But seriously, I apologise if this chapter was a little disjointed in its various parts. I felt like a cartoon character for most of the week: figuratively bouncing off of walls and wanting to hit people over the head with frying pans. Hormonal women are so much fun, right? I hope Sam and Carly's face-off satisfied certain reviewers like Carl Rahl and Fanfic-Reader-88 and that Marissa didn't come off as too much of a 'sociopath' in this chapter ;D After watching iPtN, I think a hot vampire fic for Freddie is in order - anyone feel like writing it? Next chapter: uber Creddie. And after that, the epilogue. Well, chaps, I'm off to do...Snapplelinz-related activities, whatever that means. Have a great weekend, cheers.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Notes: Hello, my fellow iCarly fans! I hope you're chilling out on this blessed Friday. I'm especially stoked because my Dad bought me a cooling tray for my laptop, so there's less chance of my laptop exploding from getting overheated mid-type ;D So there's been a lot of furore about the upcoming 'iOMG' episode in the forums lately. I think I'm gonna wait this one out in the trenches till the episode's done airing and I know exactly what the 'sway' is - Seddie or Creddie. Spoiler warning: long chapter which may result in possible fluff overload. You have been warned.  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly or the brain of Dan Schneider. If I did, well...I'd still be smarter than Dan Schneider at any rate.**

* * *

"Hi."

There it was again, that ticklish burn creeping all the way up Carly's spine and the back of her legs. How was it possible for Freddie to make her feel this way? Had she just been ignoring this feeling for years, burying the sensation in the back of her mind till it had dulled into wisps of smoke?

Carly wasn't sure if her hands were in fact doing anything while they hung at her sides. But somehow, she could sense herself moving closer to Freddie, wafting soundlessly like a leaf carrying in the wind. And she was taking him in, breathing in every single part, like ice cold water to a thirsty man.

While Carly seemed to glide closer, Freddie remained standing still, frozen in place at the very sight of her. Had Carly always been this compelling to him? His fists were reverberating at his sides, the sensation humming through his very bones. He'd been so anxious to get here all along and now that he had finally arrived, he was completely tongue-tied.

Neither Freddie nor Carly could know just how closely Sam was scrutinising them now: watching every movement of their lips, every motion of their bodies, every flicker in their eyes that spoke volumes to the living room at large. With an arched eyebrow, she watched this non-verbal exchange between her friends with silent contemplation, one leg dangling over the edge of the sofa, the hand holding the towel drying her hair limp and indifferent.

Just as Carly was about to open her mouth, Spencer practically hit Freddie in the back with the front door as he came bounding through it, his cheeks flushed and his movements jittery.

"Freddie! You're back!"

Freddie emitted an involuntary groan of pain and began rubbing the back of his head. Carly looked at her older brother with grim resignation. Spencer had stolen the words right out of her mouth.

For the moment, the spell was broken.

"Carly told me about what happened at school earlier with Rory Blake – are you ok?" Spencer asked in concern, placing a comforting hand on Freddie's shoulder.

Freddie's eyes finally left Carly's and looked at Spencer, as if meeting him for the first time.

"Uh yeah, I'm fine, Spencer. I didn't even get hurt." Freddie answered with a nervous chuckle.

Sam's eyebrow quirked even more at this admission and Carly stiffened ever so slightly in turn. All of this went unnoticed by Spencer, who was still staring at Freddie.

"Well, I'm glad you finally came home. Carly was really worried when you took off from school earlier." Spencer continued in a paternal voice wrought with subdued anxiety.

"I know, it was stupid to just run off like that. I needed to clear my head." Freddie replied nonchalantly.

His eyes tried to meet Carly's bravely in an attempt to make her understand what had transpired earlier. To his surprise, he met no resistance, only acceptance and a certain warmth which touched him deeply.

"Well, you'll be happy to know that you didn't kill Rory Blake. He's cooling off in a hospital bed as we speak with similar injuries like you had when you ran head-on into that taco truck a year ago. The only difference is that he'll probably be up and walking in no time and looking to pay you a special visit." Sam offered with a devious grin etched on her face.

To Carly's amazement, Freddie didn't bristle up with annoyance like he normally would at Sam clearly trying to rile him up. Instead, he turned to face Sam with an even expression on his face.

"I'm glad that he's ok. I may not like the guy, but I never meant to hurt him. I accept full responsibility for my actions. If Rory decides to pay me a visit, I'll be ready for him." Freddie answered.

Sam's coy smile faltered ever so slightly when she caught Freddie's meaning almost immediately. She readjusted her posture on the sofa and sat upright again, her hands drifting towards her lap instead. Carly was even more amazed when Freddie's lip quivered ever so slightly a second later, like he was about to burst out laughing any minute at Sam's expression.

"Well, as long as you don't get into another fight with him again, then Principal Franklin probably won't suspend you. Is your Mom freaking out a lot over the fight?" Spencer asked with a grimace.

"She's pretty upset. But she understands that I only did it because Rory was man-handling Carly." Freddie responded evenly.

"For what it's worth, I appreciate you stepping in and defending Carly. You're a good friend." Spencer declared earnestly.

"Thanks, Spencer." Freddie responded with a grin while the two bumped fists.

Carly finally snapped out of her reverie and remembered that Spencer had come home alone.

"Oh my God, Spencer! What happened with Socko? Is he ok?" Carly demanded excitably in one breath.

"Calm down, Carls. Socko's just fine. I managed to get him out of the man-hole." Spencer explained eagerly.

"Without falling in? Mighty impressive, Spence." Sam praised lightly.

"Actually, I did fall in…about waist-deep."

"Wait, what was Socko doing down a man-hole?" Freddie questioned in confusion.

"It's kinda a long story. But the point is that some of his merchandise fell down an open man-hole and he went down to go get it."

"Wait…Socko _willingly_ went down an open man-hole because he dropped some socks down there?" Carly fumed incredulously.

"It's part of a new range of glow-in-the-dark socks he's working on! He couldn't just leave them down there!" Spencer retorted indignantly.

"Wait. If you went down to go get him, how come your pants aren't all messed up and stuff?" Sam asked with sudden suspicion.

"That's because I'm not wearing the pants I left in; those pants are still down in the sewer. I got these pants from T-Bo. Can you believe that some guy actually left these jeans behind in the Groovy Smoothie?" Spencer questioned in awe while pointing downwards.

_"Someone took off their pants in the Groovy Smoothie and then left?"_ Freddie demanded in a high-pitched voice with wide eyes.

"Yeah! I'd better go and take a shower." Spencer noted as an afterthought.

"Please go shower now. And burn those pants when you're done." Carly suggested with evident revulsion in her tone, a hand covering her face in exasperation.

"Hey, what happened while I was gone?" Spencer demanded abruptly, finally noticing the shards of glass still littering the floor.

Freddie, who had also seen the glass strewn across the floor, wasn't slow in noticing that Carly and Sam looked at each other uneasily before Sam answered.

"It's my fault. I was goofing around and broke your fish bowl – that's why my hair's all wet." She explained hastily.

"And some of the light bulbs randomly fused and cracked by themselves." Carly put in.

"Aww, man! I thought I'd finally broken the curse of breaking fish bowls in this apartment. I've gotta buy some new light bulbs in the morning." Spencer complained dramatically.

"Make sure you buy them from a hardware store and not from a guy selling decorated hub-caps on the side of the road like last time." Carly suggested frankly.

"I know where to buy light bulbs! I'll be in the shower if anyone needs me!" Spencer called out after jogging into his bedroom and shutting the door behind him.

"As if this night couldn't get weirder. Lucky for you, Benson: you're a step up from Gibby." Sam declared in a dull tone.

"Thanks…I think," Freddie murmured, not knowing what Sam was talking about.

"Carly, do you think we could talk for a minute?" he asked seriously of Carly.

"Uh, sure. Let's go up to my room. Sam, we'll be back in a bit." Carly said to Sam in an aside.

"Actually, I think I'm gonna take off." Sam declared abruptly while getting to her feet.

"Sam, you don't have to leave." Carly responded quickly.

"It's cool. You guys need some time alone to talk. Besides, Wendy said I could crash at her place for the night if I wanted." Sam interjected graciously.

"Are you sure?" Carly asked of her best friend.

"Yeah, positive. Plus, I don't think I can stomach all of the 'eye-sex' going on between the two of you ever since Fredducinni walked through the front door." Sam quipped, to both Carly and Freddie's evident chagrin.

"But…do you mind if I borrow Fred-lumps for a minute? There's something we need to discuss." Sam declared in a stern voice after a second of reflection.

Freddie quirked an eyebrow at this, but played it cool.

"Carls, why don't you go ahead to your bedroom? I'll be up in a minute."

Carly glanced between her two friends before answering.

"Ok. I'll see you tomorrow at school, Sam." Carly greeted evenly.

"Sure thing, Cupcake," Sam remarked with a small wave before turning her attention back to Freddie.

Freddie kept his eyes on Sam the whole time as Carly's footsteps drifted off into muffled footfalls by the time she reached her bedroom.

"What do you wanna talk to me about?"

"I know all about the 'bond' and about you throwing Rory Blake into a pile of lockers like yesterday's ham, Freddie."

"But that's not what I wanna talk about."

"It's not?" Freddie asked in amazement.

"No. Carly said that me pushing you down the stairs caused all of this. Is that true?"

"Sort of, but not entirely. The bond's triggered by all kinds of factors, like hereditary considerations and such. What you did just helped it along a whole lot sooner." Freddie explained glibly.

"I figured." Sam remarked casually while looking down at the floor for a moment.

"I need to ask you something, Benson. And I want an honest answer, ok?"

"O-k."

"All these years that I've been ragging on you and pushing you into and out of things – do you hate me for it?"

Freddie was thrown by Sam's question. It took him several more seconds before he could finally muster an answer.

"No, not really. I mean, yeah, I used to get pretty mad at you years ago whenever you'd put me down in front of Carly, because I had a huge crush on her. But I don't think I've ever hated you, Sam."

"Because of Carly? Because you didn't wanna hurt her by hating me?"

"Yeah, that was mostly it. But a part of it was because…in spite of our many differences, you and I have always had an 'understanding'. Maybe the only reason we actually tolerate each other is because of Carly. But I'd also like to think it's because we have each other's backs when bad things go down, like with Missy coming between you and Carly and that psychopath Norah locking us up in her basement." Freddie responded reasonably.

"That was something nice _you_ did for me. And you ended up losing out that trip just to get rid of Missy. As for Norah, I shoved your face up against a pane of glass so you could kiss that psychopath to get us out of there. So I'm asking you: why do anything nice for me when you get absolutely nothing out of the deal?" Sam asked in a steely whisper, her face inches away from Freddie's.

"I told you already, Sam. You and I have an 'understanding'. That's why I didn't rat you out to my Mom in the first place when you pushed me down the stairs. Just because you don't treat me the way I'd like you to all the time, doesn't mean that I necessarily hate you."

"That's some messed up logic, Fredweird."

"Don't knock it till you try it."

"Fine. But you're not the only one who can be noble for Carly's sake. I'm sorry I pushed you down the stairs in the first place. It was…wrong. I didn't think about the consequences of you getting hurt or hurting Carly because of my actions. I…screwed up." Sam offered with difficulty.

"Don't do me any favours, Sam. I don't want a half-assed apology if you're just gonna turn around and do the same thing again in a day or two. If you really wanna stop screwing up, don't do it for me and or Carly. Do it for yourself, because it's the right thing to do. I don't do anything for Carly just to be noble. I do it because I care about her; that's my only motivation for doing anything. You oughta try it sometime."

"Maybe I will. Enjoy your conversation with Carly. And try not to screw it up like the last time by mentioning 'foreign bacon'." Sam suggested before pushing past him and walking to the front door.

Freddie thought it was pretty rich of Sam to bring up 'foreign bacon' when it had been her idea in the first place. But still, he grinned slightly as he watched her go and shut the front door behind her with a loud bang. And then he was facing the stairs again, where it had all began a week ago, climbing them slowly on his way to Carly's bedroom, his heart in his throat.

Carly was already sitting on her bed when Freddie entered her room and shut the door behind him with a soft click.

"Hey." Carly greeted him with a warm smile.

"Hey," Freddie greeted back.

Carly patted a vacant next to her on the plum duvet, her feet dangling above the miniature trampoline beneath her bed. Freddie acquiesced and began walking slowly towards her. The minute he plonked himself down next to Carly, he winced.

"What's wrong, Freddie?" Carly asked in alarm, her eyes wide with concern.

"It's my arms and my shoulders; they hurt all of a sudden, like I pulled a muscle or something." Freddie answered with a brave grimace on his face.

Carly began chuckling unexpectedly, causing Freddie to raise an eyebrow at her.

"Maybe it's because you tossed Rory Blake into a pile of lockers." She put in helpfully.

"You think so?"

"Could be. The adrenaline must've finally worn off."

"I think you're right. I guess I must have over-exerted myself." Freddie murmured more to himself, thinking idly of when he had put his hands around Michael's throat earlier that day.

"Take off your shirt."

"Huh?" Freddie asked blankly, turning around to face Carly.

"Take off your shirt, Freddie. I wanna massage your shoulders."

"But I'm just wearing a vest underneath my sweater!"

"Even better. Come on, Freddie – don't be so stubborn."

Freddie knew he had lost when Carly gave him that look - the one which meant the slightest bit of argument wouldn't do him any good. With a loud sigh and a squeamish feeling in the pit of his stomach, Freddie gingerly lifted his sweater over his shoulders and above his head before shrugging out of it and placing it beside him. Carly in turn swung her legs back onto the bed and moved behind Freddie. Then she got on her knees and placed her hands on his shoulders, her thighs on each side of his waist.

Carly ignored the tingle she felt in her bones when her fingertips touched the pale skin of Freddie's shoulders where his vest ended. But she couldn't help staring for a few seconds at the noticeable bulges of muscles on his arms before casually leaning over him and noting how the fabric of his vest literally strained against his abdomen where she guessed there were even more muscles.

"Where does it hurt?" Carly asked in as a steady voice as she could muster, given her sudden influx of varying emotions.

"It's mostly my shoulder blades and a little bit of my back." Freddie answered, his voice a little shaky from the feel of Carly's hands on his skin.

"Ok." Carly murmured softly before working her magic.

Freddie emitted an involuntarily groan of pleasure the second Carly began using her thumbs and index fingers to knead his skin. It was like electricity that passed between them, only stronger and more forceful than anything Freddie could've ever imagined. And while she worked, Carly unconsciously leant even closer to Freddie, her strands of hair draping his back, her face nestled tenderly against his, her chin resting on his shoulder blade. Freddie closed his eyes as a wave of contentment stole over him. He hadn't felt this relaxed in days, not even when he was busy recuperating in the hospital a week ago. Maybe Carly really was the only medicine he needed to feel better in any form.

All of this felt so strange to Carly, but not in an unpleasant way. She hadn't been able to touch Freddie like this in close to a year, after his taco truck accident. She shivered inwardly at the sound of Freddie's groans of pleasure while her hands moved along the clefts of his shoulder blades and arms, her fingers smoothing out the tension in his lower back still concealed by his vest. Something had instinctively taken over from deep within, a distinct desire to protect Freddie and take care of him. Was this all really part of the 'bond'? Or had it been growing naturally between them all this time?

"Is this helping at all?" Carly piped up eventually while she continued massaging Freddie's upper back and shoulders.

"Yes, it feels so good. Thank you, Carly." Freddie murmured sincerely, his eyes still closed.

To Freddie's disappointment, Carly stopped massaging him and hastily got to her feet, her hands pursed together in unexpected agitation.

"Carly, what's wrong?" Freddie asked in concern.

"I need to just get this off my chest before I lose my nerve." Carly announced with all the beginnings of a woman about to give birth, a pregnant pause hanging in the air.

"Ok."

"Freddie, I'm so sorry about the way that I've treated you lately. Everything that's happened between us since we fell down the stairs has scared me so much, especially how close we've grown lately. I didn't mean to push you away, but I needed some time to digest everything that's happened, especially with Michael showing up out of the blue and telling me that you and I bonded. And then everything got so screwed up when you threw Rory into those lockers earlier. I panicked when I saw you leave with Michael – for a moment, I thought I was never gonna see you again. And that freaked me out even more because I realised how much I needed you to come home so that I can make this right, because I care about you so much-"

"Carly…" Freddie interjected, getting up from the bed to move closer towards Carly, who was still babbling a mile a minute.

Without seeming to notice, Carly let Freddie take her by the hands and pull her back onto the bed with him, their fingers laced together all the while.

"Carly, don't be so hard on yourself. You couldn't have known that any of this would happen to the two of us. I said a lot of things that I didn't mean last night when I accused you of getting my hopes up and trashing them every time. I understand what you were trying to tell me on the fire escape about not wanting things to be this way. You were talking about us not having a choice with being bonded. I get it now – Michael filled me in."

"You really talked to Michael? What did he say?" Carly asked curiously.

"He told me, well…everything. About the bond, about you and me. About my parents." Freddie offered calmly.

"Your parents?" Carly questioned in confusion.

"My parents bonded too, Carly. That's the reason why my Dad was killed in a car accident when I was a kid. A ceiling collapsed in an OR where my Mom was assisting one of the doctors on duty and my Dad was coming to get her, to keep her safe. A cab hit our car on the driver's side and my Dad died from his internal injuries." Freddie responded in a weary voice.

"Oh my God. Freddie, I'm so sorry." Carly whispered meekly, her grip on his fingers tightening.

"That's not even the worst part."

"It's not?"

"I was in the car with him that night when it happened. I was there when the paramedics arrived on the scene and put my Dad in a body bag. I didn't know this whole time; my Mom kept it from me."

"I can't believe it. Why wouldn't she tell you something like that?"

"I guess she wanted to protect me. She thought it might be too painful for me if knew about it, like I'd blame myself somehow."

"I guess I see her point. But, Freddie, that's crazy. You're not responsible for your Dad's death, no one is. It was an accident, you can't blame yourself for that."

Carly's grasp on Freddie's hands was so tight that Freddie feared she might crush his fingers. But he didn't let go, didn't dare break the connection between them.

"I know that now. But it was hard finding out all this stuff about my parents that I didn't know, everything that tied them to each other, because of the bond. It feels like history's being repeated somehow." Freddie murmured pensively.

"I know what you mean. Spencer told me some things about my parents this evening that got me thinking a lot too."

"You mean…?"

"I don't know, Freddie. But it all just seems way too familiar to be a coincidence. My Dad beat up a guy that was hassling my Mom, kinda like what you did with Rory earlier. My Mom lifted a closet off of Spencer that he got trapped under when he was a kid."

"My Dad stopped my Mom from getting hit by a bus." Freddie offered in a quiet voice.

Carly's eyes opened wide at this and she looked over at Freddie. They held each other's gaze for quite a while, the electricity between their joined hands becoming all the more palpable.

"I wanna email my Dad and ask him more details; hopefully he'll tell me everything. But I think it's safe to say that our parents bonded and now it's happened to us too." Carly declared in a steady voice, much to Freddie's surprise.

"How do you feel about that? Now that you've had time to think about things?" Freddie asked cautiously.

Carly paused ever so slightly before answering. But she didn't let go of Freddie's hands the entire time.

"It's still pretty scary thinking about the idea of you and me being connected like this. But then I started thinking about what we already have as friends and even what we had a year ago when we were together after your accident and I realised it's not that different. You've been a part of my life for so long, Freddie. I'd hate to lose that on any level. I'm willing to see where this leads…if that's ok with you." Carly murmured tentatively, biting her bottom lip nervously afterwards.

Freddie, who had been holding his breath the entire time while Carly spoke, finally released air trapped in his lungs. But once he heard what she said, he stared deep into her eyes for a long while with an intense look on his face. To Carly's disappointment, Freddie let go of her hands. But she was even more amazed when Freddie moved his hand to take a strand of her dark brown hair away from her cheek. Carly shivered when Freddie moved closer and cupped her face with his hand, his breath fanning her chin.

"It's definitely ok with me, Carly." Freddie declared earnestly.

"We don't have to do anything you're not comfortable with. We can go as slow as you want while we figure out what to do about the 'bond'." He added rapidly as an afterthought.

"I'd like that." Carly responded with a small smile on her face, giving Freddie's hand a gentle squeeze.

Freddie smiled in turn and Carly's eyes were inadvertently drawn to Freddie's lips, pursed and full against the glare of her Gummy-Bear lamp. Even his usually dark brown hair had a slightly more golden tinge to it under the warm light. They were already sitting so close to each other; it wouldn't take much for Carly to close the little space between them and press her lips against his like she'd wanted to ever since he had first arrived that night. But she stopped herself in time before they took things too far. They had just begun to talk things out in a reasonable manner. The last thing she wanted to do was get side-tracked. Freddie finally let go of her face and Carly scooted over and laid down flat on her back, her head resting atop her fluffy pillow, Freddie's hand still clutched tightly in hers. With a gentle tug, Carly coaxed Freddie into lying down next to her, both of them staring at the ceiling together.

"How did you know that Sam knew?" Carly asked as an afterthought, referring to Sam's quip about the 'bond' and Rory.

"I didn't really. I just figured that she was trying to goad me into a response when she mentioned Rory. So I answered her as honestly as possible. When did you tell Sam about the 'bond'?"

"About 20 minutes before you and Spencer showed up. Actually, I uh…showed her."

"How did you do that?" Freddie questioned in bewilderment.

"I may have accidentally…purposely tried to beam her in the head with a fish bowl for emphasis…by using my mind." Carly offered sheepishly.

Freddie goggled at Carly for a few seconds while he processed this information.

"Whoa. You're freaky, Carly." Freddie teased.

"Shut up, Freddie." Carly scolded playfully, smacking Freddie on the arm with her free hand.

"How are you feeling?"

"What do you mean?"

"If I could feel achy after lifting Rory clean off the ground, then it must work the same way for you with your powers after the adrenaline's worn off. Do you feel any pain anywhere on your body?" Freddie questioned tentatively.

"Just a headache, that's all." Carly offered in a neutral voice.

Unlike Carly, who had massaged his shoulders, Freddie sat up slightly and kept a firm grip on Carly's hands and began stroking the fleshy part on the backs of her hands between her thumb and index finger with his thumbs, sending a shiver down her spine.

"My Mom always says that rubbing someone's hands while they have a migraine releases a lot of tension, sending a rush of endorphins through the body, which effectively makes pain disappear in most cases." Freddie offered with a small smile on his face.

He stopped himself from smiling too broadly when Carly closed her eyes momentarily and began purring in obvious satisfaction at his hands working wonders on her throbbing head.

"How does that feel?"

"Really good."

"I would've paid big money to see you beam Sam in the head with a fish bowl." Freddie noted lightly while he continued stroking Carly's hands.

"Trust me, it wasn't pretty. I feel kinda guilty about having to do that to her."

"Don't worry about it so much, Carls. It's good for Sam to sometimes get the picture through 'show and tell', or in this case, 'show and beam'." Freddie replied with a wink, causing Carly to chuckle in response.

"Based on Spencer's general mood, I'm guessing you haven't told him about the 'bond'."

"No, I haven't. He was pretty angry when he heard about what Rory did to me. Somehow, I don't think he would've warmed up to the idea of Michael coming into my bedroom to talk to me."

"Fair enough."

"I'm gonna tell him, Freddie. Sam already knows; it would be wrong to keep Spencer in the dark."

"Well, let me know if you need me to be there for moral support."

"Thanks, Freddie. I really appreciate that. But I think it's best if I tell Spencer alone. I know how to handle him if he starts freaking out."

"By putting a spoon-hat on his head and making him watch 'Galaxy Wars'?"

"Exactly."

The two of them began laughing heartily at this while they continued staring at the ceiling.

"You and Sam are gonna be ok, right?" Carly asked with concern swimming in her eyes when she shifted onto her side to look at Freddie after he had finished massaging her hands.

"I hope so. She apologised for pushing me down the stairs in the first place, so we'll see. But I promise you, I won't drag you into the middle of it anymore, Carly."

"I was never worried about you doing that, Freddie." Carly offered with a reassuring smile on her face.

"So…what do you think of Michael?" Freddie asked after a few seconds, lying on his side to face Carly.

Carly guffawed loudly and ran a hand through her hair before answering.

"He's uh…he's something else."

"Tell me about it. There's one side of him that makes me wanna punch him in the face. But on the other hand, he's…"

"Really…understanding. Like he knows exactly what we're going through." Carly finished off for Freddie.

"Yeah. I mean, I was freaking out a lot when I found out about my Dad and Michael calmed me down. Of course, that was after I almost pummelled him when he started talking inappropriately about you." Freddie stated in an abashed tone.

Carly goggled at this piece of information.

"When did this happen?" she questioned in an awed whisper.

"After he picked me up outside school in the park when I still didn't know what was going on. He just kinda got under my skin." Freddie admitted without quite meeting Carly's eyes.

Carly reached for Freddie's hand again and gave it a gentle squeeze. Freddie looked so stricken under the lamp light that it made Carly's heart ache in her chest.

"Freddie, it's ok."

"No, it's not, Carls. When I get angry…I just lose myself. It's like I don't have any control over my actions. And when I threw Rory into those lockers and you tried to touch my arm afterwards…"

"I get it, Freddie. You were scared that me touching you might cause you to react again. You were still running on pure adrenaline then." Carly finished sympathetically.

"I don't ever wanna hurt you, Carly. Not on any level. No matter what happens, I will always be around to protect you." Freddie declared vehemently.

Something in Freddie's tone startled Carly out of her dreamy haze and she fixed him with a worried look.

"What do you mean?" she questioned, her heart rate picking up at the look in his eye.

"Michael told me something before he left my apartment – something to do with our powers. He said that we have to be careful about who we tell; that…we should only tell people we really trust, like Sam and Spencer." Freddie began in a cautious murmur.

"What happens if we tell anyone else?" Carly asked curiously.

"People with supernatural abilities could find us. Michael said that people with powers are always naturally drawn to each other, and some of those people aren't good people, Carls. Some of them use other people with abilities for really bad things, like torturing and hurting ordinary humans. And if we use our powers for anything that goes beyond our own bond or saving people in dire situations, we could end up dying, Carly." Freddie replied morosely, his eyes shining with unshed tears.

Carly cupped her mouth with her hand in horror at this.

"Oh my God…" Carly whispered through her fingers while staring at Freddie.

"It's gonna be ok, Carly. I won't let anyone hurt you or anyone else we care about." Freddie promised.

He took hold of Carly's hand and placed it against his chest closest to where his heart was beating erratically deep within. Carly's breath caught in her throat at the heat radiating from Freddie's body, slowly drawing her in and consuming her inside and out.

"The same goes for me, Freddie. I know you're scared about what you might do if you get too angry. I lost my temper with Sam tonight and fired a fish bowl at her head. But I missed on purpose; I was able to control my anger so that I didn't hurt her. I don't know exactly how our powers are supposed to work. But I promise you, I'll help you keep a tight lid on your emotions so that you don't lose control. We'll figure this out together." Carly declared earnestly, grabbing the back of Freddie's head with one head to emphasise her point.

"And now I need you to promise me something else." She added in a low whisper.

"Anything," Freddie answered without hesitation.

"Whatever else happens from here on out, promise me that you won't take off like you did earlier. I don't wanna ever have to worry about you like that ever again. You really scared me, Freddie." Carly replied somewhat sternly.

"I'm sorry I made you worry about me, Carly. I promise I won't do something stupid like that ever again, as long as you promise me the same thing too."

"I promise."

"Good. Like it or not, we're in this together."

"I like the sound of that." Carly answered with a sly smirk, causing Freddie to blush profusely.

Then the two of them lied down on their backs again and stared at the ceiling once more.

"This has been one hell of a week." Carly murmured wearily.

"Tell me about it. I'm probably gonna have to go see Principal Franklin first thing in the morning to work out what my punishment is for making Rory Blake do a face-plant into a pile of lockers." Freddie responded, matching her tone.

"Principal Franklin likes you; I'm sure he'll understand if you explain what happened without mentioning the bond. It's getting late. Your Mom must be close to freaking out that you're not home yet." Carly noted with disappointment evident in her tone.

"You're probably right. But I told her not to wait up for me; I didn't want anything to interrupt us before we had a chance to talk." Freddie explained.

"What's on your mind, Carls?" he asked intuitively when she didn't respond immediately.

"Well…since you don't have to go just yet, is it ok if you…stay?" Carly asked while biting her bottom lip nervously.

"Of course I can stay, if you really want me to. Do you mind grabbing me a blanket? I'll crash on the couch." Freddie offered while sitting up.

"Freddie, you don't have to do that. Would it be ok if you just…hold me? I don't really feel like being alone tonight." Carly replied meekly.

Freddie smiled in understanding and rested his head against the pillow once more. He opened up his arms wide with a goofy grin on his face, causing Carly to chuckle lightly in response. She acquiesced and gratefully moved into his embrace, resting her head against his chest while Freddie encircled her slender waist with his strong arms. Her arms in turn moved around his stomach while they lay on her bed together.

"You should try and get some sleep, Carls. Tomorrow's probably gonna be a long day." Freddie whispered before leaning in and kissing Carly on the forehead.

"I don't know if I'll be able to sleep. As tired as I am right now, I'm still really charged up. It'll probably be hours before I even close my eyes." Carly whispered back, nuzzled comfortably against Freddie's chest.

But that turned out to be false when her eyes closed of their own accord a few minutes later, exhaustion having crept in steadily throughout the day. Freddie watched Carly sleep for a little while, secretly delighting in those moments when she smiled in her sleep, her hair splayed out all across his neck and chest. It wasn't long before he too succumbed to fatigue and allowed himself to get swept away by the sweet scent of Carly's hair wafting through his nose as they fell asleep in each other's arms.

* * *

**Author's Note: Well, wasn't that just positively gooey? Even I gushed a little at all the Creddie-ness ;D I apologise to anyone who was hoping for a Creddie kiss like chapter 6, or maybe more after all that massage action. But unlike dinosgirl3 in 'iNever Knew', I decided to keep this G-rated for the most part. But damn, dinosgirl3 sure knows how to make Creddie sizzling :D I hope you all liked this new update, it's been a long time in the making. Next up: the epilogue in a week's time. A big thank you to everyone reading, reviewing, alerting and favouriting this story in additon to putting up with my long-winded author notes - for that, you get extra cool points :D Have a great weekend and try not to pick any fights with other iCarly fans while my back is turned, not cool. Cheers! **


	12. Epilogue

**Hello, my fellow iCarly fans! We're finally at the end of this story, has it really gone so quickly? iOMG in 24 hours - anyone out there stoked for this episode? Thank you so much for everyone who reviewed last week's chapter and may have expressed disappointment at not seeing a Creddie kiss.**** If anyone's upset about the 'massage tease' last week, then check out this link (.net/s/5986982/6/iFind_And_Keep_You ), where a massage lead****s to other things ;) Here's the epilogue for your viewing pleasure, enjoy :D**

**Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly or the concept for this story. Never have on both accounts.  
**

* * *

It was close to 5pm when Freddie finally arrived back in Kennedy Square and trudged into Bushwell Plaza, completely worn out from the day he'd had. Naturally, he ran right into Lewbert in the lobby, brandishing a filthy mop in his hand.

"NYAAANGTH! What are you doing walking all over my clean floor? You just made it dirty – now I've gotta start all over again!" Lewbert complained in his usual drawl.

"You mind if I give you some advice, Lewbert? If you want a clean floor, maybe you should start with a clean mop in the first place. That mop hasn't been brand new since Sir Mix-A-Lot last made a record." Freddie pointed out, gesturing to the cleaning utensil in Lewbert's hand.

He smirked as soon as Lewbert began yelling out profanities and a host of other unintelligible things at him as he walked steadily towards the elevators. As tiring as his day had been, Freddie found it childishly easy not to lose his temper with Lewbert. Maybe spending all his time around Carly lately, who hardly seemed phased by anything beyond school and the web-show, was just what he had needed all along to keep his powers in check.

That didn't mean that he hadn't done all the research he could get his hands on and experimented with his powers in the meanwhile. And Carly had been only too eager to experiment right along with him. Freddie couldn't believe that it was close to two months ago when he and Carly had first discovered that they shared a 'bond'. Their guardian, Michael, had been instrumental in guiding them every step of the way, popping up sporadically on little visits with bouts of useful information and sarcastic retorts. Even though Freddie would never openly admit it to Carly, he had a soft spot for the man he considered to be part demon, part angel.

To his lack of surprise, Freddie ran into Sam exiting the Shay's apartment just as he walked towards to his apartment. He shook his head at the smirk on Sam's face while he began unlocking the front door.

"Well, well. Look who finally showed up from being at school all day long." Sam declared in a knowing tone.

"Go ahead. Make jokes," Freddie implored dryly as the key turned in the door.

"Don't mind if I do. I just think it's pretty hilarious that you're the one who's been in detention for weeks now while I've been on the straight and narrow." Sam remarked teasingly with a big grin on her face.

"I wouldn't go that far. The only reason you weren't in detention today was because Carly stopped you from spray-painting 'I Eat Pants' on Mr. Howard's car. Besides, it's not so bad going to detention for defending someone else." Freddie remarked in a pensive tone.

After spending that night at the Shay's apartment asleep in Carly's arms two months ago, Freddie had gotten up early the next day and gone straight to school to see Principal Franklin. To his surprise, Principal Franklin was already waiting for him in his office; word had spread quickly about Freddie's involvement in Rory Blake's accident. To Freddie's amazement, his mother had come storming in mid-way through his speech about accepting responsibility for his actions and demanded that Principal Franklin show leniency to Freddie, explaining that he had done what he did to Rory to protect Carly.

Another meeting took place later that day with Mrs. Benson still present, along with an irate Mr. and Mrs. Blake, who were demanding that Freddie be suspended from school for injuring their son. To Principal Franklin's credit, he managed to calm everyone down while Freddie sat quietly in his chair and suggested a compromise: Freddie wouldn't be suspended, nor would there be a permanent record in his school transcripts, since there were mitigating circumstances. But he would have to attend detention every day for the next 8 weeks. Freddie had served out his time without any further complaint and Carly had spent many a day outside the classroom where he sat doing homework during detention, waiting patiently for him.

"You just can't get enough of the limelight, can ya, Fredward? First, the taco truck; now Rory Blake's spectacular face-plant into a pile of lockers. It's not like Carly can love you any more than she already does." Sam complained with just a hint of revulsion at the idea.

She managed to grin though when Freddie began blushing at what she'd said.

"So instead of vandalising other people's property, what did you end up doing today after school?" Freddie asked curiously, changing the subject.

"Carly and I rehearsed through our latest 'Idiot Farm Girl' sketch for iCarly tomorrow night." Sam responded nonchalantly.

"Carly never misses a beat."

"It was my idea, nub."

Freddie gaped in amazement at Sam, who stared defiantly back at him.

"Wait…you actually…_willingly_…organised an iCarly rehearsal?" he questioned in disbelief.

"Don't look so surprised, Freduardo. I'm capable of doing things that matter to other people, especially Carly." Sam retorted defensively with one hand on her hip.

"Evidently. Did Carly make you rehearse through everything on laminated cue cards?" Freddie asked teasingly.

He began laughing boisterously when Sam groaned loudly and clasped her face in exasperation with one hand.

"Urgh, yes! I love that girl to bits and pieces, but she never stops with those chizz cue cards." Sam responded in a whiny voice.

"Yeah, Carly can be pretty kooky when it comes to being super organised. But she's still our girl." Freddie remarked with a small smile on his face.

"Yeah, she is." Sam agreed, matching his tone.

An awkward silence ensued between the two of them while they pointedly avoided looking at each other for a few seconds.

"Well, I should probably get inside…." Freddie announced swiftly, jerking his thumb behind him.

"Oh, right. You've gotta get ready for your 'date' tonight with Carly." Sam stated with air-quotes in a seedy tone.

"It's not a date."

"Sure it is. You asked Carly to come over to your apartment in an hour while your Mom does her shift at the hospital and you're providing the snacks and beverages. It's a date."

"It's not like that with me and Carly, Sam." Freddie replied seriously.

In truth, the only couple-related thing that Freddie and Carly had done in two months was hold hands at school. But that had been it. Freddie didn't want to pressure Carly into anything; he knew that she needed time to adjust to their 'bond' and everything it encompassed. Both of them had tried to keep things as normal as possible between them while learning to control their powers and learning more about their 'bond'. Now that he had officially served his last day of detention, Freddie wanted to celebrate and just spend some alone-time with Carly that evening, with a compromise of buying Sam breakfast in the morning at Gallini's, the iCarly trio's favourite pie-shop.

"I know it isn't, but it should be, according to that whole 'bond' thing you guys have got going on." Sam answered with air-quotes yet again, looking slightly uncomfortable while she spoke.

"We're taking it slow." Freddie stated in a small voice.

"Fine by me." Sam quipped sardonically, causing Freddie to shake his head and grin in spite of himself.

"Well, I'll leave you to gargle your mouth 20 times and prepare fat and fun-free snacks for yours and Carly's 'non-date'." Sam remarked before shoving her hands deep into her pockets.

"You got any plans tonight?" Freddie asked curiously of Sam.

"I got a little bid-nez to take care of with Wendy. See you bright and early tomorrow at Gallini's. And remember, you're paying." Sam reminded before walking off down the hallway.

"Like I could forget. Have fun tee-peeing Ms. Briggs' backyard with Wendy," Freddie greeted slyly with a wave of his hand, chuckling as he let himself into his apartment.

"Mom, I'm home!" Freddie called out while putting his book bag down on the kitchen table.

Freddie could hear his mother bustling about in her bedroom before heading out for her night shift at the hospital.

"Hi, honey! I'm just getting ready for my shift at the hospital! There's some meatloaf and cucumber cups in the microwave if you're hungry!" Marissa yelled back from her bedroom.

"Thanks, Mom!"

Freddie decided to start preparing the food before taking a shower. He needed everything to be ready and perfect before Carly arrived in an hour.

He had a good feeling about tonight.

* * *

"Spencer, I'm leaving now!" Carly called out while descending the stairs.

After taking a shower, changing her clothes at least three times and doing her hair, Carly was finally ready for her night with Freddie. She couldn't understand why she was so nervous; she and Freddie had spent many a time alone together without either Spencer or Sam (or Gibby) around. But somehow, Carly could sense that this time was different from the rest. And the thought was making the pulse points on her neck and wrists race quicker as the seconds ticked away.

"Hang on, Carls! I wanna talk to you for a second!" Spencer shouted back from the kitchen, oven gloves on his hands while he took a sizzling home-made pepperoni pizza out of the oven.

Carly rolled her eyes and came skipping towards the kitchen counter.

"What's up, Spencer?" she asked with one hand on her hip.

"About you and Freddie hanging out tonight-"

Spencer stopped talking and stared in awe at Carly's outfit. She was dressed simply enough: light blue skinny jeans that hugged her hips and legs in all the right places; a lacy white top with frills at the edges and straps that went down to her arms, leaving the tops of her shoulder blades exposed and ankle-high light brown leather boots on her feet. She had curled her hair into wavy ringlets that cascaded down her back for the occasion and applied the smallest amount of make-up on her face: beige blush on her cheeks and her favourite cherry-flavoured pale pink lip gloss on her mouth.

"Wow. You look really pretty." Spencer concluded in somewhat of a hoarse tone.

"Uh, thanks, Spencer. So…about me and Freddie hanging out tonight?" Carly probed lightly while biting her bottom lip.

Spencer shook his head experimentally while placing the pizza on top of the kitchen counter.

"Right! You and Freddie…I guess I just wanted to know – is this a date?" he asked in a careful voice.

"Spencer, Freddie and I are just hanging out tonight. It's not like that between us." Carly explained patiently.

But even while Carly said the words, she innately knew they weren't true. Yes, she and Freddie weren't dating. Besides holding hands occasionally in the school hallway, they hadn't kissed since that night outside her bedroom two months ago. She understood that Freddie didn't want to pressurise her into anything just yet because of the bond, but Carly was beginning to get frustrated. It reminded her all too well of her feelings after Freddie's taco truck accident a year ago and how she'd been glad to spend all day every day kissing him. The thought sent goosebumps down her arms while she clutched them tightly across her chest, trying hard to concentrate on what Spencer was saying to her.

"I know, it's just that…the two of you have been spending a lot of time together lately. Even if you're not dating now, that's likely to change since the two of you, you know…bonded and stuff." Spencer answered awkwardly.

Carly tried to suppress a grin at the uncomfortable look on Spencer's face. A few days after Freddie served out his first detention two months ago, Carly finally plucked up enough courage to sit Spencer down and explain everything that had happened between her and Freddie concerning the 'bond'. To say Spencer was shocked was an understatement. After Carly had convinced him to put on the spoon hat, Spencer proceeded to run around the apartment with his hands covering his ears, not wanting to hear another word, especially when Carly mentioned weird occurrences such as pushing Sam into his sculpture and Freddie pushing Rory into a pile of lockers.

But after getting Spencer to sit back down on the sofa, Carly explained to him about Michael (whom Spencer was none too pleased about) and the fact that she and Freddie now had special abilities, Spencer started getting really excited, especially when Carly told him about what really happened with the light bulbs exploding in the apartment. Being able to destroy things with your mind was the epitome of the coolest thing that Spencer had ever heard. After that, Carly could barely get a moment to herself because Spencer kept plying her with question after question about hers and Freddie's 'bond'. Like Carly, he managed to put two and two together about their parents and began excitedly doing research of his own about 'bonding' in general.

Like she had told Freddie, Carly finally struck up the nerve to send her father an email, asking him point-blank about whether he and her mother had 'bonded'. To her disappointment, Steven hadn't given her any answer to her question. But he had promised that he would tell her everything she wanted to know in person when he came to visit a month from now. The thought both terrified and comforted Carly as she thought about her parents and the love they'd shared a lifetime ago.

Both Spencer and Sam were alarmed when Freddie and Carly had explained to them about the negative consequences of the bond. But both had been extremely supportive and reassuring and Freddie and Carly had done their parts by being extremely careful when experimenting discreetly with their powers. So far, nothing had gone wrong and everyone had begun to breathe easy about the entire affair. But that didn't mean that they weren't still on their guard in some small way. Neither Sam nor Spencer had laid eyes on Michael yet, but Sam was especially looking forward to that eventual meeting. After Carly's description of him, she knew that Sam wanted to see just how good-looking he really was. As for Spencer, Carly had a feeling he wanted to postpone meeting Michael for as long as possible. She got the impression that Spencer might secretly be afraid of him.

"We have, but we've been hanging out as friends. Just friends, Spencer." Carly reiterated.

"And after tonight?" Spencer pressed.

"We'll see."

"I just want you to be sure."

"Maybe I am this time." Carly responded somewhat coolly.

She instantly felt guilty when Spencer began running a nervous hand through his shaggy brown hair.

"I'm sorry, Spencer. I know you're just trying to look out for me and I appreciate it. But it's gonna be ok. This time around is a lot different than Freddie's incident with the taco truck. This time, I know I'd do the same for him in a heartbeat." Carly answered in a steady voice, fixing her older brother with an unwavering gaze.

Spencer stared back at Carly for a few seconds. He finally relaxed his stance when he realised that Carly meant what she said.

"Well, technically, you did kinda do the same thing for him on the stairs when you pushed Sam out of the way. Of course, he still got hurt, but you get what I mean." Spencer declared soberly.

"Yeah, I do." Carly replied with a small smile on her face.

"I'm proud of you, kiddo."

"Thanks, Spencer. That means a lot."

"Good. Well, you'd better get going – I don't want you to be late for your date-thing…whatever." Spencer greeted in a nonchalant manner.

Carly moved towards Spencer and hugged him tightly.

"I'll try not to be out too late." She teased lightly, her head resting against his shoulder.

"Ok. Don't do anything I wouldn't do. If I'm not around when you get back later, I'll probably be chilling out with Socko."

"Not at the bottom of a man-hole, I hope?" Carly questioned in a teasing manner.

"N-o! I don't always have to do things with Socko that involve me losing my pants." Spencer retorted indignantly.

"I sincerely hope not." Carly replied with a smirk on her face.

"Alright, scat! Have fun!" Spencer greeted playfully with a dismissive wave.

"I will. Have fun with your pants on!" Carly greeted before skipping cheerily towards the front door, her stomach fluttering with something akin to butterflies.

* * *

After showering and changing into some clean clothes (a comfortable pair of black jeans, a cotton dark blue short-sleeved polo shirt and a pair of black Converse high-tops), Freddie began getting everything ready for his night with Carly. He had prepared the food before showering and once he had finished, he had asked gotten some patio furniture from the basement to put up on the roof of Bushwell Plaza. The chairs had been easy to handle, but the patio table was quite heavy. Not that Freddie felt it at all, lifting it as if it were a feather as he took it in the elevator with him up to the roof. Marissa had watched with concern as Freddie walked casually back through the apartment to make sure that he hadn't left anything behind.

"Freddie, are you sure you should be carrying patio furniture up to the roof? That table is pretty heavy," Marissa noted uneasily.

"I'm fine, Mom. It barely weighed a thing." Freddie answered patiently, wiping his hands on his jeans while looking about him.

Then someone began knocking on the front door and the two of them glanced momentarily at each other. Freddie cleared his throat and moved to open the door. His smile brightened to about 150 kilowatts when he saw that Carly was standing on the other side.

"Hi, Carly!" Freddie greeted brightly without hesitation.

"Hi, Freddie," Carly greeted back with just as much enthusiasm in her voice.

She looked over Freddie's shoulder and saw Mrs. Benson standing near the kitchen table, watching the two of them closely.

"Hi, Mrs. Benson." She greeted politely.

"Hello, Carly." Marissa greeted back stiffly.

"Ok. Well, we should head up to the roof, Carls. I'll see you later, Mom." Freddie intercepted smoothly with forced nonchalance.

"Freddie, would you mind giving me and a Carly a moment? There's something I need to say to her." Marissa stated unexpectedly.

"Sure. I'll wait upstairs for you." Freddie answered graciously while giving Carly an encouraging smile.

He didn't like the idea of leaving Carly alone with his mother, given her feelings towards Carly. But he instinctively knew that this was one time where he couldn't intervene. Marissa wasn't nearly as excited about Carly and Freddie bonding as Sam and Spencer were, but she had been tolerant without putting up too much of a fuss, which was more than what Freddie could've expected from her. He closed the front door behind him quietly, leaving Carly and his mother completely alone. Carly tried to ignore the sense of trepidation she felt about having to talk to Mrs. Benson without Freddie there, but it didn't show on her face.

"What did you want to talk to me about, Mrs. Benson?" Carly questioned in a calm voice, even though her heart was hammering in her chest.

Marissa pursed her hands together while staring at Carly with an unfathomable expression on her face.

"You and Freddie have been spending a lot of time together apart from his serving detention." She began in a small voice.

"Yes, we have." Carly confirmed.

"You've even waited for him till very late in the afternoon after most of his detentions."

"Well…he's in there because of me. It was the least I could do."

"I'm sure Freddie's told you by now that I don't exactly approve of all this 'bonding' business."

"It came up," Carly offered in a neutral tone.

"You're probably curious about my misgivings." Marissa declared.

"Not really. I know it's because you still blame me for Freddie getting hit by that taco truck a year ago and because you don't think I'm good enough for him." Carly answered calmly.

Carly's frankness took Marissa by surprise. But she collected herself immediately and continued on with what she had to say.

"It may have been for all those reasons before, but it's more than that, Carly. Once you 'bond' with someone, there's no going back. Your entire future is mapped out for you. And then there are the powers too. You might be able to control them, but you have to constantly make sure that they don't end up controlling you instead." Marissa answered in a stern voice.

"With all due respect, Mrs. Benson, I'm well aware of the risks. It's part of the reason why I tried to avoid all of this with Freddie in the beginning. But I do believe that everything happens for a reason. And whatever happens, you should know that I love your son with all of my heart. There's nothing I wouldn't do for him now. It took me a long time to realise how much I need him in my life. But I know it now, and I won't let him slip away." Carly declared vehemently, her eyes never leaving Marissa's.

"And you'd still feel that way if he suddenly got taken away from you?" Marissa asked in a slow murmur.

A lump rose in Carly's throat and she fought back tears threatening to rise from deep within. But she remained composed while she spoke.

"Even then." She answered truthfully.

"Well, I guess that's all a mother really needs to hear then." Marissa offered a few seconds later.

And then she was moving towards the front door with her overcoat on and her purse slung over her shoulder. She turned back to face Carly and the latter was stunned to see tears swimming in the older woman's eyes.

"Will you promise me something?" Marissa asked.

"Anything." Carly responded in an even voice.

"Take care of him. He's all I have left."

"I will."

"Be careful tonight."

And then Mrs. Benson was gone, walking out of the front door while Carly stood frozen in place at the kitchen table. Then she finally snapped out of her reverie and began walking calmly towards the front door as she made her way into the elevator and up to the roof, where Freddie was waiting for her.

* * *

Dinner was a very enjoyable affair for Freddie and Carly. The food in itself wasn't very fancy; a simple fruit salad for starters, spaghetti tacos as a main course and two slices of Gallini's Coconut Cream Pie for dessert with home-made ice tea. Freddie and Carly hardly noticed as they talked and laughed together in-between intervals, discussing things mostly to do with school and iCarly, as well as mild speculation as to what Sam was currently up to with Wendy. For all his talk about the two of them 'just hanging out', Carly couldn't help noticing all the trouble that Freddie had gone to with dinner, including lighting a few scented candles on top of the table while they sat and ate together on the roof.

They only began talking about anything related to their 'bond' after Carly had offered to clear their dinner plates and take them back down to Freddie's apartment and Freddie had put the rest of the food away. Then the two of them grabbed some bottles of Preppy-Cola from the fridge and walked back up to the roof, where they kicked back on deckchairs, just taking in the sights beyond Kennedy Square. Carly leaned back in her deckchair, one of her legs dangling over the edge onto the ground. She scrutinised the full moon for a few minutes while her fingertips danced along the edges of a small round table that Freddie had dragged between the deckchairs, upon which their drinks sat.

"Is it just me, or does the moon look bigger tonight?" she asked speculatively while craning her neck to look at Freddie.

"Maybe it looks bigger because we're closer to it." Freddie answered with a wink.

"I'm serious, Freddie. Do you think the supernatural affects the elements at all?" Carly asked in a serious voice.

Freddie placed one hand behind his head while he thought it over.

"I'm not sure really. But after everything we've learnt about the 'bond', I guess we can't rule it out." He relented in a reasonable manner.

"I guess so. Why are we out here again?" Carly asked blankly after a few seconds of comfortable silence.

Freddie was distracted for a second or two by what Carly was doing beside him. Whether she was doing it consciously or otherwise, he couldn't tell. But Carly's fingers were just inches away from her own bottle of Preppy Cola. And she was making the glass bottle levitate a centimetre or two above the glass table. She wasn't even looking at the bottle – was she doing it with her mind? Freddie tore his eyes away from the sight and focused on answering her question instead.

"I told you earlier, there's supposed to be a shooting star coming tonight. I did some research and we should be able to see it from this vantage point on the roof."

"Ok, but when's it gonna come?"

"I don't know exactly – soonish."

"Soonish?"

"Ok, really soon."

"You don't know when it's coming, do you?"

"Not precisely. But I estimate that it should come within the next 15 minutes."

"15 minutes! What are we gonna do till it comes?" Carly asked laughingly, sitting up to look at Freddie.

Freddie's eyes flickered back towards the small table. Sure enough, Carly had begun levitating the glass bottle higher and higher without realising it. A sudden thought entered his mind and a wide grin appeared on his face when the bottle silently floated soundlessly back down onto the table again.

"I've got an idea."

Carly raised a questioning eyebrow when Freddie gently took her by the hand, lifting her off the deckchair and back onto her feet. Then he slowly led her out into the middle of the flat rooftop where the moon shone the brightest, their fingers laced together.

"Aww, why'd ya make me get up? I was really comfortable." Carly pouted with a wistful glance in the direction of the deckchairs.

"Because…I know how we can pass the time till the shooting star passes by." Freddie replied.

"How?" Carly questioned curiously.

"Dance with me, Carly."

Carly raised yet another questioning eyebrow while she stared back at Freddie.

"How are we gonna dance without music?"

"I can fix that."

Freddie let go of Carly's hand (albeit it regretfully) and jogged towards the door which led back down to the emergency stairwell, where he had left his backpack. He unzipped the bag and produced his iPod as well as his trusty docking station and built-in speakers. Carly giggled as Freddie jogged towards the round table and placed his iPod and dock on top of it. After switching on the docking station and rotating the swivel button on his iPod a few times with his thumb, Freddie was back at Carly's side, slightly out of breath while he held her close and they started swaying together.

"So…how does it feel to finally be done with detention?" Carly asked curiously with her hands resting on Freddie's arms.

She emitted a cry of surprise a second later when Freddie took that moment to spin her around with his hand before bringing her expertly back to his chest, holding her close.

"It feels pretty damn good," Freddie breathed in her ear, sending a shiver down her spine.

"I hope Rory hasn't been giving you a hard time while I've been in detention," he added as an afterthought, worry creasing his handsome features.

Freddie blinked when Carly began chuckling lightly.

"You really don't have to worry about that, Freddie. Rory just pretends I'm part of the wall when he walks past me these days, which suits me just fine. As for you though…"

Freddie grimaced slightly at the thought. When Rory had finally left the hospital and returned to school, he felt sure that Rory and the football team would try to get revenge on him somehow. But he had been faintly surprised when Rory had taken one look at him on that first day and sprinted in the opposite direction, followed closely by his team mates who kept throwing Freddie panicked looks over their shoulders. Apparently, the extent of his injuries was still fresh in Rory's mind, along with that of his friends. Both Carly and Freddie had been relieved while Sam had sulked about it, having geared herself up for a fight if necessary.

"Believe me, no one's as surprised as I am," Freddie finished in a thoughtful tone.

"I'm not. You've always tried to protect me in small ways over the years. Everybody else, including Rory, is just finally clued in about it." Carly answered truthfully with a glowing smile on her face, causing Freddie to blush a little at her praise.

As Carly leant in to rest her head on Freddie's shoulders while they swayed together, she stopped short while listening to the song which began playing on the iPod.

"Wait…I know this song. T-Bo played this for us at the Groovy Smoothie after the 'Ladies Choice' dance when we danced together." Carly declared in amazement.

"You have a good memory." Freddie praised while keeping a firm grip on Carly's hand while his other hand rested on her hip.

"I can't believe you still have this song on your iPod after all this time." Carly mused in awe while gazing at Freddie, her hands on his shoulders while they danced together.

Freddie slowed down their movement, staring intently back at Carly.

"It's my favourite night to date. It was the first time that I ever felt there was a chance you could feel the same way I do." He murmured earnestly.

Carly's breath caught in her throat and she struggled to breathe for a few seconds at the way Freddie was looking at her.

"I never gave up on you, Carly. I tried to move on and forget about you, but the truth is…there's never been a time when you didn't have my heart." Freddie added more seriously, his breath coming out in staggering leaps.

Carly, who had been staring doggedly at Freddie's chest while he spoke, finally plucked up the courage to look him dead in the eye, the gentle breeze catching in her hair and making it fly forward across Freddie's cheeks.

"Freddie-"

"I know it's stupid to say it out loud. But I just needed you to hear it once, because I haven't forgotten about it. If anything, these past two months spent with you have made me realise just how strong my feelings really are and-"

"Freddie!"

Freddie stopped babbling and realised that Carly had also tried to get his attention by caressing his cheek gently, a small smile on her face.

"Carly-"

Carly stopped Freddie from saying anything further by pressing her index finger to his lips, keeping him in place for the moment and focused wholly on her.

"I didn't forget either, Freddie."

And then she replaced her finger with her lips, pressing them tenderly against Freddie's to stop any other form of protest from coming out. Protesting was the farthest thing from Freddie's mind when he felt a lightning bolt shoot through his spine, then race back up towards his neck and face, beginning and ending with Carly's lips fused with his. His hands instinctively moved to cup her cheeks as his lips moved steadily with hers.

Carly could feel that familiar pattern of warmth igniting in her bones like scalding blue flames as she pressed her whole body into Freddie's, trembling from head to toe from the feel of his hands caressing her cheeks while he kissed her back. She knew this was dangerous; these feelings alone had the power to change everything she'd known before this moment. And she found that she didn't care at all. She'd wanted this for a whole year now and it had surpassed her all-too vivid imagination. She couldn't breathe, she was getting dizzy, she was free-falling, she was floating –

Carly's eyes snapped wide open, bright with horror when she realised what was happening. While she had let her brain disappear altogether while Freddie had been kissing her, her body had begun defying all the normal laws of gravity. She and Freddie were floating several inches above the ground, as if they were standing on an invisible platform. Her heart plummeted in her chest and she had already torn her lips free from Freddie's and began gasping in horror for a scream that wouldn't quite come.

"F-Freddie! We're hovering above the ground!" Carly shrieked before tightening her grip on Freddie all the more and burying her face into his chest to keep from looking down.

"Yeah, I can see that."

When she finally pulled her face away from Freddie's chest, she looked up and realised that Freddie didn't look nearly as surprised as he should've been in that particular moment. His eyes were wide; not with fear, but rather with exhilaration.

"Freddie, we're not on the ground anymore! Why aren't you freaking out?" Carly hissed indignantly.

"Because this is seriously the coolest thing ever! And Michael may have told me that something like this might happen…" Freddie trailed off in an abashed tone.

"Something like what might happen? What's going on?" Carly demanded in a high-pitched wail.

"Carly, calm down, everything's fine. It's just that Michael said there was a good chance that if you were ever sufficiently distracted, that you might be able to levitate objects, including your own body." Freddie explained rapidly.

"I know how to levitate?" Carly asked stupidly.

"Apparently you do…" Freddie remarked while gazing down below them.

He fought the urge to start laughing at the panicked expression on Carly's face while he tried another tact.

"You were levitating your Preppy Cola bottle before this, didn't you realise you were doing that?"

"No, I didn't." Carly responded in bewilderment, her eyes flickering towards the round table where the Preppy Cola bottles lay perfectly still.

"Well, you were. Your fingers were almost touching the bottle; the near-contact must've made it start floating in mid-air."

"Wait, so if you knew this beforehand – did you kiss me so that you could prove your little theory?" Carly asked indignantly of Freddie.

"Actually, you kissed me first, Carly." Freddie reminded.

"Oh…right." Carly muttered, blushing profusely as her anger subsided, forgetting for the moment that she and Freddie were still floating above the ground.

She gave a start when Freddie wrapped his arms around her more tightly and stared deep into her eyes.

"Besides, I wouldn't have kissed you for any other reason except because I wanted to." He answered smoothly with a smirk on his face.

A coy smile formed on Carly's face while she looked back at Freddie.

"Well, in that case, why don't we put this theory to the test?" she asked flirtatiously before biting her bottom lip.

Freddie was already one step ahead of Carly when his lips melded with hers. Carly responded in kind, deepening the kiss with a flick of her tongue against Freddie's parted lips, draping her arms around his neck. Freddie kept a firm grip on Carly's back with his muscular arms as they continued floating in mid-air, feeling fairly confident that he would never let her fall under any circumstances.

And somewhere between embracing one another tightly and kissing each other till they were breathless, they missed the shooting star speed right past them. The arched beam of light swept across the indigo sky littered with millions of stars before meeting the huge full moon in a cataclysmic collision, their mutual light mingling for a split second as if they too had bonded. And then it was gone, sweeping across the remaining sky while the moon lingered behind, shining brightly over the roof of Bushwell Plaza where Freddie and Carly stood, afloat in their own splendid cosmos.

* * *

**Well, that's all from me: positively corny right till the very end**. **I hope you all enjoyed this final chapter for this story, it's been a pleasure for me to write from beginning to end.**

**Phantom playlist for baronvonmilo's audio pleasure:**

**U2 – North Star (unreleased)**

**Eminem – Space Bound**

**A special thank you to the following people who reviewed this story:**

**Boris Yeltsin, Carl Rahl (gets 70% of the royalties), sockstar (the ultimate tent pitcher), PhunkyBrewster (my new favourite Creddie author), Fanfic-Reader-88, Amy788, baronvonmilo (my favourite reviewer overall), Peterpan, CGK0113, Invader Johnny, sweetStarre123, onlythatdaydawns, TwilightForever10, RemDiamond (my cf2ya homie), tiger002 (my Suite Life homeboy), The Earl Of Sandwich (the coolest Seddie fan I've ever met), pink-strawberry-lemonade, poisonivy34, The Blind Sniper, FlyFly, creddie dude, Shealtiel, mrmuscle (it's been too long, bro) and minimaddi.**

**Carl, a big thank you for letting me write this story for you, it's been real. Now I'm off to work on my project for 'April Script Frenzy'. I'm sure at least 50% of you will enjoy iOMG tomorrow ;) Take it easy and don't forget to sniff the fruit salad. You've been a wonderful crowd, cheers!  
**


End file.
